What is the name of the theater in italy. The best opera houses and festivals in italy. Teatro La Fenice in Venice

She is known for her opera singers and works. If you love opera, try to attend at least one performance (buy tickets in advance). The opera season usually lasts from October to April, while in summer there are various outdoor performances.

The best opera houses in Italy and a couple of summer opera festivals:

Teatro alla Scala - Teatro Alla Scala

Address: Piazza Giuseppe Verdi, 10, 43011 Busseto Parma

Teatro Verdi di Pisa

Address: Piazza Beniamino Gigli, 7, 00187 Roma

Buy tickets online (Italian)

Arena di Verona - Arena di Verona

Although not a theater, Verona's amphitheater is a fantastic setting for opera performances. The season starts in June.

Address: Piazza Brà, 1, 37121 Verona

Buy tickets online

Festival Puccini - Festival Pucciniano

This opera festival is held in Torre del Lago Puccini in Tuscany, home of the famous opera composer Giacomo Puccini. Festival time: July-August.

Address: Via delle Torbiere, 55049 Viareggio Lucca

Buy tickets online (English, German or Italian)

Sferisterio - Macerata Opera Festival

The Spheriterio Opera Festival is held outdoors in the arena in the town of Macerata in the Marche region. Shows take place in July and August.

Address: Piazza Giuseppe Mazzini, 10, 62100 Macerata

Buy tickets online (English or Italian)

Surprisingly, the largest European theater is located not in London or even in Vienna, but in Naples. The Royal Theater of Naples or the Teatro San Carlo has a capacity of 3285 people.

In addition, it is the oldest operating theater in the world. The San Carlo Opera House was opened in 1737 by King Carl Bourbon. Before the construction of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, this opera house was the most prestigious theater in Italy.

Many operas have been staged here, including the famous works of Gioacchino Rossini. In the twentieth century, such composers and conductors as Giacomo Puccini, Pietro Mascagni, Ruggiero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, Francesco Chilea worked and staged their operas in the theater.

Teatro alla Scala (La Scala), Milan

Despite the fact that Milan's La Scala theater cannot boast of outstanding statistical records, it is he who is perhaps the most famous stage in the world.

The world famous Milan opera house Teatro alla Scala was built in 1776-1778 on the site of the church of Santa Maria della Scala, where the name of the theater itself comes from. The new site was inaugurated on August 3, 1778 with a production of the opera "Recognized Europe" by Antonio Salieri.

During the Second World War, the theater was destroyed. After the restoration of its original appearance by engineer L. Secchi, the theater was reopened in 1946. Now the La Scala auditorium consists of 2,015 seats.

Performing in this theater is an honor for any artist, since the 18th century the best of the best come here. The names of many of the world's great opera composers are closely associated with La Scala, including Rossini, Donizetti and Verdi.

La Scala houses not only the opera troupe, but also the choir, ballet and symphony orchestra of the same name. A museum is organized in the lobby, which displays paintings, sculptures, costumes and historical documents related to the history of opera and theater.

By the way, when visiting the theater, it is worth remembering that it is customary to come to La Scala in black clothes.

(Royaloperatictheatre), London

Few are able to argue with Italy in operatic art, but modern theater was revived in Britain.

Theater Royal Covent Garden is considered one of the most famous venues in the world. The first theater on this site was built back in 1732. After the fires in 1808 and 1856, the building was completely destroyed. The current theater building was designed by Barry (son of the architect who built Parliament) in 1858.

Here in 1892, for the first time in Great Britain, Wagner's grandiose opera The Ring of the Nibelungen was performed under the direction of the outstanding composer and conductor Gustav Mahler. Today, the building is home to the Royal Opera and Ballet companies, although it is often used by touring opera and ballet theaters from various countries.

In December 1999, the theater was reopened after reconstruction, which significantly expanded the auditorium. There is also a new foyer in the Flower Hall, where concerts are regularly held. Unlike the London Coliseum (National Opera), where all operas are performed in English, regardless of the original, at the Royal Opera everything is performed in the language in which the opera was written.

(Paris Opera or Opera Garnier), Paris

The Paris State Opera has been the heart of French musical and theatrical culture for many years. Nowadays it bears the name "National Academy of Music and Dance". The theater was opened on January 5, 1875, it also houses a ballet school, which has existed since 1713 and is considered the oldest in Europe.

The building is located in the Palais Garnier in the IX arrondissement of Paris, at the end of the Avenue de Opera, near the metro station of the same name. The building is considered the benchmark for eclectic architecture in the Beaux-art style. It belongs to the era of major transformations of the city, successfully embodied by Napoleon III and Prefect Osman. The building of the Grand Opera strikes with the complexity of the decor and somewhat excessive luxury, the same applies to the interior of the theater.

The main staircase lobby is one of the most famous places of the Opéra Garnier. Lined with marble of different colors, it accommodates a double flight of stairs leading to the theater foyer and theater hall floors. The main staircase is also a theater, the stage where a select audience defiled in the days of crinolines. Various musical allegories are depicted on four parts of the painted ceiling. At the bottom of the stairs are two bronze floor lamps - female figures holding bouquets of light.

The large foyer was designed by Garnier on the model of the ceremonial galleries of old castles. The play of mirrors and windows visually makes the gallery even more spacious. The magnificent ceiling painted by Paul Baudry depicts musical stories, and the lyre is the main decorative element.

The red and gold auditorium in the Italian style is made in the shape of a horseshoe. It is lit by a huge crystal chandelier and the ceiling was painted in 1964 by Marc Chagall. The hall can accommodate 1900 spectator seats, trimmed with red velvet. A magnificent curtain made of painted fabric imitates a red drapery with gold lace and tassels.

(Vienna State Opera House), Vienna

The Vienna State Opera is Austria's leading opera group. The building itself, in which it is located now, was built in 1869, but the first performances of the opera troupe were given 2 centuries earlier. They took place in the royal palace, as well as on the stage of other theaters.

The theater opened on 25 May with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera Don Giovanni. The auditorium has 1,313 seats, but there are also standing places, there are 102 of them.

The façade of the Vienna State Opera is richly decorated and contains fragments from the opera Die Zauberflöte, written by Mozart. The heyday of the theater is associated with the name of the outstanding Austrian composer and conductor Gustav Mahler.

Since 1964, the world famous ballet Swan Lake has been shown at the opera house, in which the talented choreographer Rudolf Nureyev has performed the main role for many years, and many of Vienna's residents and guests have become his admirers.

Every year in February, the building is transformed, the most famous ball in Austria is held here, and at night both the stage and the audience hall turn into a huge dance floor, where numerous couples are circling in waltz.

, Moscow

The State Academic Bolshoi Theater of Russia (Bolshoi Theater of Russia), or simply the Bolshoi Theater, is one of the largest in Russia and one of the most significant opera and ballet theaters in the world. The history of the theater has been traditionally conducted since March 1776.

During the war with Napoleon, the theater building burned down, so in 1821 the construction of the theater began on the original site. It reopened three years later on August 20, 1856.

Another reconstruction was carried out already in the XXI century. The opera house reopened in 2012 after renovation. The new seats for the auditorium repeat the appearance of the seats of the pre-Soviet era; the number and number of spectators have returned to the previous number and number of seats. Chairs and armchairs have become more comfortable, the width of the aisles has increased.

The décor of the auditorium has been restored to its original design by Kavos. The gilding of papier-mâché stucco elements took 4.5 kg of gold. An organ was made and delivered from Belgium by special order for the Bolshoi Theater.

Perhaps the most famous productions of the theater are the ballets Swan Lake and The Golden Age staged by Grigorovich.

, St. Petersburg

The Mariinsky Theater traces its history back to the Bolshoi Theater, founded in 1783 by order of Empress Catherine the Great. The Mariinsky Theater itself, named after the wife of Alexander II, Empress Maria Alexandrovna, opened on October 2, 1860 with Mikhail Glinka's opera A Life for the Tsar.

In 1883-1896, large-scale restoration work was carried out in the building of the Mariinsky Theater under the direction of the architect V. Schreter. As a result of the work, the acoustic conditions of the stage and auditorium were significantly improved, the necessary annexes were erected, and magnificent interiors were created, which brought the Mariinsky Theater fame as one of the most beautiful theaters not only in Russia, but throughout the world.

For more than a century, the Mariinsky Theater has been a symbol of Russian theatrical culture. The names of such famous figures of the Russian stage as F. Chaliapin, F. Stravinsky, G. Ulanov, A. Pavlova, R. Nureyev, M. Baryshnikov and many others are associated with the Mariinsky Theater.

World famous productions of the Mariinsky Theater, such as Swan Lake, Eugene Onegin, The Nutcracker, have been recognized as classics of world art.

Natalie Dessay (born Nathalie Dessaix) is a French opera singer, coloratura soprano. One of the leading singers of our time, at the beginning of her career she was known for her very high and transparent voice, now she sings in a lower range. Loved by the audience for excellent dramatic performance and a lively sense of humor. Natalie Dessay was born on April 19, 1965 in Lyon, raised in Bordeaux. While still in school, she dropped the letter "h" from her name, in honor of the actress Natalie Wood, and later simplified the spelling of the fimilia. In her youth, Dessay dreamed of becoming a ballerina or an actress and took acting lessons, but once, playing with fellow students in a little-known play of the 18th century, she had to sing, she sang Pamina's aria from The Magic Flute, everyone was amazed, she was advised to switch her attention to music. Natalie entered the State Conservatory in Bordeaux, completed a five-year study in just one year and graduated with honors in 1985. After the conservatory she worked with the Orchestra National de Toulouse Capitol. In 1989, she took second place in the New Voices competition held by France-Telecom, which allowed her to study for a year at the Lyric Arts School of the Paris Opera and play the role of Eliza in Mozart's The Shepherd Tsar. In the spring of 1992, she sang a short part of Olympia from Offenbach's "Tales of Hoffmann" at the Opera Bastille, her partner was Jose van Dam, the production disappointed critics and audiences, but the young singer received a standing ovation and was noticed. This role will become a landmark for her, until 2001 she will play Olympia in eight different productions, including during her debut at La Scala. In 1993 Natalie Dessay won the Vienna Opera's International Mozart Competition and stayed to study and perform at the Vienna Opera. Here she sang the role of Blonda from Mozart's "Abduction from the Seraglio", which has become another most famous and most frequently performed role. In December 1993, Natalie was offered to replace Cheryl Studer in the well-known role of Olympia at the Vienna Opera. Her performance received the recognition of the audience in Vienna and the praise of Placido Domingo, in the same year she performed this role at the Lyon Opera. Natalie Dessay's international career began with performances at the Vienna Opera. In the 1990s, her recognition was constantly growing and her repertoire of roles was constantly expanding, there were many offers, she performed in all the leading opera houses of the world - the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Bavarian Opera, Covent Garden, Vienna Opera and others. A distinctive feature of the actress Dessay is that she believes that an opera singer should consist of 70% of the theater and 30% of music and strive not only to sing her roles, but also to play them dramatically, so each of her characters is a new discovery. never like the others. In the 2001/2002 season, Dessay began to experience vocal difficulties and had to cancel her performances and recitals. She left the stage and in July 2002 underwent surgery to remove polyps on her vocal cords, in February 2003 she returned with a solo concert in Paris and actively continued her career. In the 2004/2005 season, Natalie Dessay had to undergo a second operation. A new public appearance took place in May 2005 in Montreal. The return of Natalie Dessay was accompanied by a reorientation in her lyric repertoire. She gives up on "light", without depth roles (like Gilda in "Rigoletto") or from roles that she no longer wants to play (Queen of the Night or Olympia) in favor of more "tragic" characters. This position at first brought serious disagreements with some directors and colleagues. Today Natalie Dessay is at the pinnacle of her career and is the leading soprano of our time. Lives and performs mainly in the USA, but constantly tours in Europe. Russian fans could see her in St. Petersburg in 2010 and in Moscow in 2011. In early 2011, she sang (for the first time) the role of Cleopatra in Handel's Julia Caesar at the Opera Garnier, returned to the Metropolitan Opera with her traditional " Lucia di Lammermoor ", then returned to Europe again with a concert version of" Pelléas and Melisande "in Paris and London and a concert in Moscow. The singer's immediate plans include many projects: La Traviata in Vienna in 2011 and at the Metropolitan Opera in 2012, Cleopatra in Julia Caesar at the Metropolitan Opera in 2013, Manon at the Paris Opera and La Scala in 2012, Marie ("The Daughter of the Regiment") in Paris in 2013, and Elvira in the Metropolitan in 2014. Natalie Dessay is married to bass-baritone Laurent Nauri and they have two children. On the opera stage, you can rarely see them together, unlike the Alanya-Georgiu star couple, the fact is that there is much less repertoire for the baritone-soprano than for the tenor-soprano. For the sake of her husband, Dessay adopted his religion - Judaism.

Pauline Viardot, full name Pauline Michelle Ferdinand García-Viardot (fr. Pauline Michelle Ferdinande García-Viardot) is a leading French singer, mezzo-soprano, 19th century, vocal teacher and composer of Spanish origin. Pauline Viardot was born on July 18, 1821 in Paris. Daughter and student of the Spanish singer and teacher Manuel Garcia, sister of Maria Malibran. As a child, she studied the art of playing the piano with Franz Liszt and was going to become a pianist, but her amazing vocal skills determined her profession. She has appeared in various theaters in Europe and has given many concerts. She was famous for the roles of Fides ("The Prophet" by Meyerbeer), Orpheus ("Orpheus and Eurydice" by Gluck), Rosina ("The Barber of Seville" by Rossini). The author of romances and comic operas on a libretto by Ivan Turgenev, her close friend. Together with her husband, who translated Turgenev's works into French, she promoted the achievements of Russian culture. Her surname is spelled in various forms. With her maiden name Garcia, she achieved fame and fame, after marriage she used the double surname Garcia-Viardot for some time and at some point she gave up her maiden name and called herself "Mrs. Viardot". In 1837, 16-year-old Pauline Garcia gave her first concert in Brussels, and in 1839 she made her debut as Desdemona in Rossini's Othello in London, becoming the highlight of the season. Despite some shortcomings, the girl's voice combined exquisite technique with amazing passion. In 1840, Pauline married Louis Viardot, composer and director of the Théatre Italien in Paris. Being 21 years older than his wife, her husband began to pursue her career. In 1844, in the capital of the Russian Empire, the city of St. Petersburg, she performed on the same stage with Antonio Tamburini and Giovanni Batista Rubini. Viardot had many fans. In particular, the Russian writer Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev fell passionately in love with the singer in 1843 after hearing her performance in The Barber of Seville. In 1845 he left Russia to follow Pauline and eventually became almost a member of the Viardot family. The writer treated Polina's four children as his own, and adored her until his death. She, in turn, was a critic of his work, and her position in the world and connections presented the writer in the best light. The true nature of their relationship is still a matter of debate. In addition, Pauline Viardot communicated with other great people, including Charles Gounod and Hector Berlioz. Famous for her vocal and dramatic abilities, Viardot inspired composers such as Frédéric Chopin, Hector Berlioz, Camille Saint-Saëns and Giacomo Meyerbeer, the author of the opera The Prophet, in which she became the first performer of the Fidesz part. She never considered herself a composer, but actually composed three music collections, and also helped in writing music for roles that were created especially for her. Later, after leaving the stage, she wrote an opera called Le dernier sorcier. Viardot spoke fluent Spanish, French, Italian, English, German and Russian and used various national techniques in her work. Thanks to her talent, she performed in the best concert halls in Europe, including the Opera House in St. Petersburg (in 1843-1846). Viardot's popularity was so great that Georges Sand made her the prototype for the protagonist of the novel Consuelo. Viardot sang the mezzo-soprano part in Tuba Mirum (Mozart's Requiem) at Chopin's funeral on October 30, 1849. She performed the main role in Gluck's opera Orpheus and Eurydice. In 1863, Pauline Viardot-Garcia left the stage, left France with her family (her husband was an opponent of the Napoleon III regime) and settled in Baden-Baden. After the fall of Napoleon III, the Viardot family returned to France, where Pauline taught at the Paris Conservatory until her husband's death in 1883, and also kept a music salon on Boulevard Saint-Germain. Among the pupils and students of Pauline Viardot are the famous Desire Artaud-Padilla, Sophie Roer-Brainin, Bilodz, Hasselman, Holmsen, Schliemann, Schmeiser, Bilbo-Bachelet, Meyer, Rollant and others. She had an excellent vocal school for many Russian singers, including F.V. Litvin, E. Lavrovskaya-Tserteleva, N. Iretskaya, N. Shtemberg. On May 18, 1910, Pauline Viardot died, surrounded by loving relatives. Buried in the cemetery of Montmartre in Paris. Russian poet Alexei Nikolaevich Pleshcheev dedicated his poem "The Singer" (Viardot Garcia) to her: No! I don’t forget you, captivating sounds, As the first sweet tears of love, I don’t forget! When I listened to you, torment was humbled in my chest, And again I was ready to believe and love! I will not forget her ... Either an inspired priestess, covered with a broad-leaved wreath, She appeared to me ... and sang a sacred hymn, And her gaze burned with divine fire ... Then a pale image in her I saw Desdemona, When she, bending over the harp golden, She sang a song about the willow ... and the moans were interrupted by the sad overflow of that old song. How deeply she comprehended, studied the One who knew people and the secrets of their hearts; And if a great one rose from the grave, He would put His crown on her forehead. Sometimes Rosina appeared to me, young And passionate, like the night of her native country ... And, listening to her magic voice, I strove with my soul to that fertile land, Where everything enchants the ear, everything delights the eyes, Where the eternal blue sky shines, Where the nightingales whistle on the branches of the sycamore tree And the cypress, the shadow trembles on the smooth surface of the waters! And my chest, full of holy pleasure, Pure Delight, heaved high, And disturbing doubts flew away, And my soul was calm and light. As a friend after days of painful separation, I was ready to embrace the whole world ... Oh! I don’t forget you, captivating sounds, As the first sweet tears of love, I don’t forget!<1846>

Angela Gheorghiu (Romanian Angela Gheorghiu) is a Romanian opera singer, soprano. One of the most famous opera singers of our time. Angela Gheorghiu (Burlacu) was born on September 7, 1965 in the small town of Adjud, Romania. From early childhood it was obvious that she would become a singer, her destiny was music. She studied at the Music School in Bucharest and graduated from the National University of Music of Bucharest. Her professional operatic debut took place in 1990 as Mimi in Puccini's La Boheme in Cluj, in the same year she won the Hans Gabor International Vocal Competition Belvedere in Vienna. The surname Georgiou remained with her from her first husband. Angela Georgiu's international debut took place in 1992 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in La Boheme. In the same year, she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and at the Vienna State Opera. In 1994, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, she sang for the first time the role of Violetta in La Traviata, at that moment the "birth of a star" took place, Angela Georgiu began to enjoy constant success in opera houses and concert halls around the world: in New York, London, Paris, Salzburg, Berlin, Tokyo, Rome, Seoul, Venice, Athens, Monte Carlo, Chicago, Philadelphia, Sao Paulo, Los Angeles, Lisbon, Valencia, Palermo, Amsterdam, Kuala Lumpur, Zurich, Vienna, Salzburg, Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Prague, Montreal, Moscow, Taipei, San Juan, Ljubljana. In 1994, she met tenor Roberto Alagna, whom she married in 1996. The wedding ceremony took place at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. For a long time, the Alanya-Georgiu couple was the most striking creative family union on the opera stage, now they are divorced. Her first exclusive contract with a record company was signed in 1995 with Decca, after which she released several albums a year, now she has about 50 albums, both staged operas and solo concerts. All her CDs have received good reviews from critics and have been awarded many international prizes, including awards from the Gramophone magazine, the German Echo award, the French Diapason d'Or and Choc du Monde de la Musique, and many others. Twice in 2001 and 2010 she was named "Best Female Singer of the Year" by the British "Classical BRIT Awards". The range of roles of Angela Gheorghiu is very wide, especially her favorite operas by Verdi and Puccini. The Italian repertoire, perhaps due to the relative similarity of the Romanian and Italian languages, she does well, some critics note that French, German, Russian and English operas are performed weaker. Angela Gheorghiu's most important roles: Bellini "Somnambula" - Amina Bizet "Carmen" - Michaela, Carmen Chilea "Adriana Lecouvreur" - Adriana Lecouvreur Donizetti "Lucia di Lammermoor" - Lucia Donizetti "Lucrezia Borgia" - Don Lucretia Borgia drink Adina Gounod "Faust" - Margarita Gounod "Romeo and Juliet" - Juliet Massenet "Manon" - Manon Massenet "Werther" - Charlotte Mozart "Don Giovanni" - Zerlina Leoncavallo "Pagliacci" - Nedda Puccini "Swallow" - Magda Puccini "Bohemia" - Mimi Puccini "Gianni Schicchi" - Loretta Puccini "Tosca" - Tosca Puccini "Turandot" - Liu Verdi Troubadour - Leonor Verdi "La Traviata" - Violetta Verdi "Louise Miller" - Luisa Verdi "Simon Boccanegra" - Maria Angela Gheorghiu continues to perform actively and is at the top of the opera Olympus. Future commitments include various concerts in Europe, America and Asia, Tosca and Faust at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Cecilia Bartoli is an Italian opera singer, coloratura mezzo-soprano. One of the leading and commercially successful opera singers of our time. Cecilia Bartoli was born on June 4, 1966 in Rome. Bartoli's parents are Silvana Bazzoni and Pietro Angelo Bartoli, professional singers, employees of the Rome Opera. Cecilia's first and main vocal teacher was her mother. At the age of nine, Cecilia first appeared on the "big stage" - she appeared in one of the crowd scenes at the Rome Opera in the form of a shepherd boy in the production of "Tosca". As a child, the future singer was fond of dancing and was engaged in flamenco, but her parents did not see her career in dancing and were unhappy with her daughter's hobby, they insisted that she continue her musical education. Flamenco gave Bartoli the lightness and passion with which she performs on stage, and her love for this dance is still relevant. At the age of 17, Bartoli entered the Santa Cecilia Conservatory. In 1985, she appeared on the television show New Talents: she sang Barcarole from Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann, Rosina's aria from The Barber of Seville, and even a duet with the baritone Leo Nucci. And although she came in second, her performance made a splash among opera lovers. Soon, Bartoli performed in a concert organized by the Paris Opera in memory of Maria Callas. After this concert, three "heavyweights" in the world of classical music drew attention to her - Herbert von Karajan, Daniel Barenboim and Nikolaus Arnoncourt. His professional operatic debut took place in 1987 at the Arena di Verona. The following year, she performed the role of Rosina in Rossini's The Barber of Seville at the Cologne Opera and the role of Cherubino, paired with Nikolaus Arnoncourt in The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart in Zurich, Switzerland. Herbert von Karajan invited her to participate in the Salzburg Festival and perform the Mass in B minor by JS Bach with him, but the death of the maestro did not allow the plans to come true. In 1990, Bartoli made her debut at the Opera Bastille as Cherubino, at the Hamburg State Opera as Idamante in Mozart's Idomeneo, and in the United States at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York and signed an exclusive contract with DECCA. In 1991 she made her debut at La Scala in the role of Isolier in Rossini's opera "Count Ori", from that time, at the age of 25, she established her reputation as one of the world's leading performers of Mozart and Rossini. Since then, her career has developed rapidly - a listing of the best theaters in the world, premieres, recitals, conductors, recordings, festivals and Cecili Bartoli awards could have grown into a book. Since 2005, Cecilia Bartoli has focused on the music of the Baroque and early classicism by composers such as Gluck, Vivaldi, Haydn and Salieri, and more recently on the music of the Romantic era and Italian bel canto. She currently lives with her family in Monte Carlo and works at the Zurich Opera. Cecilia Bartoli is a frequent guest in Russia, since 2001 she has visited our country many times, the last of her tours took place in September 2011. Some critics note that Cecilia Bartoli is considered one of the best mezzo-sopranos of our time only because she has very few competitors with this type of voice (unlike soprano), nevertheless, her performances gather full halls of fans, and discs are sold in millions of copies. ... For her achievements in the field of music, Cecilia Bartoli was awarded many state and public awards, including the French Orders of Merit and Arts and Letters and the Italian knighthood, and she is also an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in London, etc. She is the owner of five Grammy Awards, the last of which she won in 2011 for Best Classical Vocal Performance with the album Sacrificium.

Galina Pavlovna Vishnevskaya (October 25, 1926 - December 11, 2012) - great Russian, Soviet opera singer (lyric and dramatic soprano). People's Artist of the USSR. Commander of the French Legion of Honor, Honorary Doctor of a number of universities. Galina Pavlovna Vishnevskaya was born on October 25, 1926 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), but spent most of her childhood in Kronstadt. She endured the Leningrad blockade, at the age of sixteen she served in air defense units. Her creative activity began in 1944 as a soloist of the Leningrad Operetta Theater, and her career on the big stage began in the fifties. In her first marriage, she was married to the military sailor Georgy Vishnevsky, with whom she divorced two months later, but retained his last name; in the second marriage - with the director of the operetta theater Mark Ilyich Rubin. In 1955, four days after they met, she married for the third time to the later famous cellist M.L. Rostropovich, in an ensemble with whom (ML Rostropovich - first as a pianist, and later as a conductor) she performed at the most prestigious concert venues in the world. From 1951 to 1952, leaving the operetta theater, Vishnevskaya took singing lessons from V.N. Garina, combining classical vocals with performances as a pop singer. In 1952, she took part in a competition for the trainee group of the Bolshoi Theater, was accepted, despite the lack of a conservatory education, and soon (in the figurative expression of B.A. ... During 22 years of her artistic career at the Bolshoi Theater (from 1952 to 1974) Galina Vishnevskaya has created many (more than thirty!) Unforgettable female characters in Russian and Western European opera masterpieces. Having brilliantly debuted as Tatyana in the opera Eugene Onegin, she performed in the theater the roles of Aida and Violetta (Aida and La Traviata by Verdi), Cio-Cio-san (Cio-Cio-san by Puccini), Natasha Rostova ("War and Peace" by Prokofiev), Katarina ("The Taming of the Shrew" by Shebalin, creator of the role, 1957), Liza ("The Queen of Spades" by Tchaikovsky), Kupava ("The Snow Maiden" by Rimsky-Korsakov), Martha ("The Tsar's Bride" by Rimsky- Korsakov) and many others. Vishnevskaya took part in the first productions on the Russian stage of the opera The Gambler by Prokofiev (1974, part of Polina) and the mono-opera The Human Voice by Poulenc (1965). In 1966 she starred in the main role in the film-opera "Katerina Izmailova" by D.D. Shostakovich (directed by Mikhail Shapiro). She was the first performer of a number of works by D.D. Shostakovich, B. Britten and other prominent contemporary composers. Under the impression of listening to her recording, Anna Akhmatova's poem "A Woman's Voice" was written. During the Soviet era, Galina Vishnevskaya, together with her husband, the great cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich, provided invaluable support to the outstanding Russian writer and human rights activist Alexander Solzhenitsyn, and this became one of the reasons for the constant attention and pressure from the USSR secret services. In 1974, Galina Vishnevskaya and Mstislav Rostropovich left the Soviet Union and in 1978 were stripped of their citizenship, honorary titles and government awards. But in 1990, the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet was canceled, Galina Pavlovna returned to Russia, the honorary title of People's Artist of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin were returned to her, she became an honorary professor at the Moscow Conservatory. Abroad, Rostropovich and Vishnevskaya lived in the United States, then in France and Great Britain. Galina Vishnevskaya sang on all major stages of the world (Covent Garden, Metropolitan Opera, Grand Opera, La Scala, Munich Opera, etc.), performing with the most prominent masters of the world musical and theatrical culture. She sang the part of Marina in the unique recording of the opera Boris Godunov (conductor Herbert von Karajan, soloists Giaurov, Talvela, Spiess, Maslennikov), in 1989 she sang the same role in the film of the same name (director A. Zhulavsky, conductor M. Rostropovich). Among the recordings made during the period of forced emigration, the complete edition of S. Prokofiev's opera "War and Peace", five discs with romances by Russian composers M. Glinka, A. Dargomyzhsky, M. Mussorgsky, A. Borodin and P. Tchaikovsky. The whole life and work of Galina Vishnevskaya was aimed at the continuation and glorification of the greatest Russian operatic traditions. After the start of perestroika, in 1990, Galina Vishnevskaya and Mstislav Rostropovich were reinstated in citizenship. In the early 90s, G. Vishnevskaya returned to Russia and became an honorary professor at the Moscow Conservatory. She described her life in the book "Galina" (published in English in 1984, in Russian in 1991). Galina Vishnevskaya is an honorary doctor of a number of universities; for many years she has worked with creative youth, giving master classes around the world and serving as a member of the jury of major international competitions. In 2002, the Galina Vishnevskaya Opera Singing Center was opened in Moscow, the creation of which the great singer had long dreamed of. At the center, she passed on her accumulated experience and unique knowledge to talented young singers so that they could adequately represent the Russian opera school on the international stage. The missionary aspect of Galina Vishnevskaya's activities is emphasized by the largest federal and regional mass media, directors of theaters and concert organizations, and the general public. Galina Vishnevskaya was awarded the most prestigious world prizes for her invaluable contribution to the world musical art, numerous awards of the Governments of different countries: the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad" (1943), the Order of Lenin (1971), the Diamond Medal of the City of Paris (1977), the Order "For Services to Fatherland "III degree (1996), II degree (2006). Galina Vishnevskaya - Grand-officier of the Order of Literature and Art (France, 1982), Chevalier of the Order of the Legion of Honor (France. 1983), Honorary Citizen of the city of Kronstadt (1996).

Maria Nikolaevna Kuznetsova is a Russian opera singer (soprano) and dancer, one of the most famous singers of pre-revolutionary Russia. Leading soloist of the Mariinsky Theater, participant of Sergei Diaghilev's Russian Seasons. She worked with N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, Richard Strauss, Jules Massenet, sang in tandem with Fyodor Chaliapin and Leonid Sobinov. After leaving Russia after 1917, she continued to successfully perform abroad. Maria Nikolaevna Kuznetsova was born in 1880 in Odessa. Maria grew up in a creative and intellectual atmosphere, her father Nikolai Kuznetsov was an artist, and her mother came from the Mechnikov family, Maria's uncles were the Nobel laureate biologist Ilya Mechnikov and sociologist Lev Mechnikov. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky visited the Kuznetsovs' house, who drew attention to the talent of the future singer and composed children's songs for her, since childhood Maria dreamed of becoming an actress. Her parents sent her to a gymnasium in Switzerland, returning to Russia, she studied ballet in St. Petersburg, but gave up dancing and began to study vocals with the Italian teacher Marty, and later with the baritone and her stage partner I.V. Tartakov. Everyone noted her clean, beautiful lyric soprano, the noticeable talent of the actress and female beauty. Igor Fedorovich Stravinsky described her as "... a dramatic soprano who could be seen and listened to with the same appetite." In 1904 Maria Kuznetsova made her debut on the stage of the St. Petersburg Conservatory in the role of Tatiana in Eugene Onegin by PI Tchaikovsky, on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater in 1905 as Margarita in Faust by Ch. Gounod. Soloist of the Mariinsky Theater, with a short break, Kuznetsova remained until the 1917 revolution. In 1905, two gramophone records with a recording of her performances were released in St. Petersburg, and in all, during her creative career, she made 36 records. Once, in 1905, shortly after Kuznetsova's debut at the Mariinsky, during her performance in the theater, a quarrel broke out between students and officers, the situation in the country was revolutionary and panic began in the theater. Maria Kuznetsova interrupted Elsa's aria from "Lohengrin" by R. Wagner and calmly sang the Russian anthem "God Save the Tsar", the busters were forced to stop the quarrel and the audience calmed down, the performance continued. The first husband of Maria Kuznetsova was Albert Albertovich Benois, from the famous dynasty of Russian architects, artists, historians Benois. In the prime of her career, Maria was known under the double surname Kuznetsov-Benoit. In the second marriage, Maria Kuznetsova was married to the manufacturer Bogdanov, in the third, to the banker and industrialist Alfred Massenet, the nephew of the famous composer Jules Massenet. Throughout her career, Kuznetsova-Benoit has participated in many European opera premieres, including the part of Fevronia in The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia by N. Rimsky-Korsakov and Cleopatra from the opera of the same name by J. Massenet, which the composer wrote specially for her. And also on the Russian stage she presented for the first time the roles of Vogdolina in "The Gold of the Rhine" by R. Wagner, Cio-Cio-san in "Madame Butterfly" by G. Puccini and many others. Has toured with the Mariinsky Opera Company to cities in Russia, France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, USA and other countries. Among her best roles: Antonida ("A Life for the Tsar" by M. Glinka), Lyudmila ("Ruslan and Lyudmila" by M. Glinka), Olga ("Rusalka" by A. Dargomyzhsky), Masha ("Dubrovsky" by E. Napravnik), Oksana ("Cherevichki" by P. Tchaikovsky), Tatiana ("Eugene Onegin" by P. Tchaikovsky), Kupava ("The Snow Maiden" by N. Rimsky-Korsakov), Juliet ("Romeo and Juliet" by C. Gounod), Carmen ("Carmen" Bizet), Manon Lescaut (Manon by J. Massenet), Violetta (La Traviata by G. Verdi), Elsa (Lohengrin by R. Wagner) and others. In 1914, Kuznetsova temporarily left the Mariinsky Theater and together with the Russian ballet "Sergei Diaghilev performed in Paris and London as a ballerina, and also partially sponsored their performance. She danced in the ballet "The Legend of Joseph" by Richard Strauss, the ballet was prepared by the stars of her time - composer and conductor Richard Strauss, stage director Sergei Diaghilev, choreographer Mikhail Fokin, costumes and sets Lev Bakst, leading dancer Leonid Myasin. It was an important role and good company, but from the very beginning the production ran into some difficulties: there was not much time for rehearsals, Strauss was in a bad mood, since the invited ballerinas Ida Rubinstein and Lydia Sokolova refused to participate, and Strauss also did not like working with French musicians and constantly quarreled with the orchestra, and Diaghilev was still worried about the departure of the dancer Vaslav Nijinsky from the troupe. Despite the problems behind the scenes, the ballet successfully debuted in London and Paris. In addition to trying her hand at ballet, Kuznetsova made several opera performances, including in Borodin's production of Prince Igor in London. After the revolution in 1918, Maria Kuznetsova left Russia, as befits an actress, she did it dramatically beautifully - in the clothes of a cabin boy she hid on the lower deck of a ship sailing to Sweden. She became an opera singer at the Stockholm Opera, then at Copenhagen, and then at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London. All this time, she constantly came to Paris, and in 1921 finally settled in Paris, which became her second creative home. In the 1920s, Kuznetsova staged private concerts where she sang Russian, French, Spanish and Gypsy songs, romances and operas. At these concerts, she often danced Spanish folk dances and flamenco. Some of her concerts were charitable to help the needy Russian emigration. She became the star of the Parisian opera, and it was considered a great honor to be received in her salon. The "flower of society", ministers and industrialists crowded in her front. In addition to private concerts, she has often worked as a soloist at many opera houses in Europe, including Covent Garden and the Paris Opera and the Opéra Comic. In 1927, Maria Kuznetsova with Prince Alexei Tsereteli and baritone Mikhail Karakash organized a private company "Russian Opera" in Paris, where they invited many Russian opera singers who had left Russia. The Russian Opera staged Sadko, The Tale of Tsar Saltan, The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia, Sorochinskaya Fair and other operas and ballets by Russian composers and performed in London, Paris, Barcelona, ​​Madrid, Milan and in distant Buenos Aires. The Russian Opera lasted until 1933, after which Maria Kuznetsova began to give fewer performances. Maria Kuznetsova died on April 25, 1966 in Paris, France.

Annette Dasch is a German opera singer, soprano. One of the leading contemporary German opera singers. Annette Dash was born on March 24, 1976 in Berlin. Annette's parents, father, judge, and mother studied medicine, loved music and instilled this love in their four children. At home, traditionally, all family members played music and sang together, growing up, all the children became professional musicians: the eldest daughter - a concert pianist, the younger brothers - one - a singer, bass-baritone, a member of the classical pop quintet "Adoro", the second - a music teacher ... Since childhood, Annette performed in the school vocal ensemble and dreamed of becoming a rock singer. She was also an active scout and still loves hiking and tourism. In 1996, Annette moved to Munich to study vocal academically at the Munich Higher School of Music and Theater. In 1998/99 she also took music and drama courses at the University of Music and Theater in Graz (Austria). International success came in 2000 when she won three major international vocal competitions - the Maria Callas Competition in Barcelona, ​​the Schumann Song Competition in Zwickau and the Geneva Competition. Since then, she has performed at the best opera houses in Germany and the world - at the Bavarian, Berlin, Dresden State Operas, at the Paris Opera and at the Champs Elysees, La Scala, Covent Garden, Tokyo Opera, the Metropolitan Opera and many others. In 2006, 2007, 2008 she performed at the Salzburg Festival, in 2010, 2011 at the Wagner Festival in Bayorot. The range of roles of Annette Dash is quite wide, including the roles of Armida ("Armida", Haydn) Gretel ("Hansel and Gretel", Humperdinck), Girls-Goose ("Royal Children", Humperdinck), Fjordiligi ("Everybody does this" , Mozart), Elvira (Don Giovanni, Mozart), Electra (Idomeneo, Mozart), Countess (The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart), Pamina (The Magic Flute, Mozart), Antonia (Hoffmann's Tales, Offenbach), Liu (Turandot, Puccini), Rosalinda (The Bat, Strauss), Freya (Rhine Gold, Wagner), Elsa (Lohengrin, Wagner) and others. Annette Dash is not only an opera singer, she also sings oratorios and gives concerts. Her repertoire includes songs by Beethoven, Britten, Haydn, Gluck, Handel, Schumann, Mahler, Mendelssohn and others. The singer held her last concerts in all major European cities (for example, in Berlin, Barcelona, ​​Vienna, Paris, London, Parma, Florence, Amsterdam, Brussels), performed at the Schubertiada festivals in Schwarzenberg, early music festivals in Innsbruck and Nantes, and other prestigious festivals. Since 2008, Annette Dash has been conducting her very popular television entertainment music show "Dash-Salon", the name of which in German is consonant with the word "laundry" (Waschsalon). For the 2011/2012 season, Annette Dash kicked off with a European solo tour, her upcoming operatic commitments include the role of Elvira from Don Giovanni in the spring of 2012 at the Metropolitan Opera, then the role of Madame Pompadour in Vienna, a tour with the Vienna Opera in Japan with a role in The Merry Widow ", also another performance at the Bayorot Festival.

Salome Amvrosievna Krushelnytska is a famous Ukrainian opera singer (soprano), teacher. During her lifetime, Salome Krushelnitskaya was recognized as an outstanding singer in the world. She had an outstanding in strength and beauty voice of a wide range (about three octaves with a free middle register), musical memory (she could learn operatic parts in two or three days), a bright dramatic talent. The singer's repertoire consisted of over 60 parts of different characters. Among her many awards and distinctions, in particular, the title "Wagner's Diva of the 20th Century". The Italian composer Giacomo Puccini presented the singer with his portrait with the inscription "beautiful and charming Butterfly". Salome Krushelnytska was born on September 23, 1872 in the village of Belyavintsy, now the Buchatsky district of the Ternopil region, in the family of a priest. Comes from a noble and ancient Ukrainian family. Since 1873, the family moved several times, in 1878 they moved to the village of Belaya near Ternopil, from where they never left. She began to sing from a young age. As a child, Salome knew a lot of folk songs, which she learned directly from the peasants. She got the basics of musical training at the Ternopil gymnasium, where she took exams as an external student. Here she became close to the gymnasium music circle, of which Denis Sichinsky was also a member - later a famous composer, the first professional musician in Western Ukraine. In 1883, at the Shevchenko concert in Ternopil, the first public performance of Salome, who sang in the choir of the Russian conversation society, took place. In Ternopil, Salome Krushelnytska first got acquainted with the theater. From time to time, the Lviv theater of the Russian conversation society performed here. In 1891 Salome entered the Lviv Conservatory. At the conservatory, her teacher was the then famous professor Valery Vysotsky in Lviv, who brought up a whole galaxy of famous Ukrainian and Polish singers. While studying at the Conservatory, her first solo performance took place; on April 13, 1892, the singer performed the main part in the oratorio "Messiah" by GF Handel. The first opera debut of Salome Krushelnytska took place on April 15, 1893, she performed the role of Leonora in the play "Favorite" by the Italian composer G. Donizetti on the stage of the Lviv City Theater. In 1893, Krushelnytska graduated from the Lviv Conservatory. In the graduation diploma of Salome it was written: "This diploma is received by Panna Salome Krushelnitskaya as evidence of her artistic education, obtained by exemplary diligence and extraordinary success, especially in a public competition on June 24, 1893, for which she was awarded a silver medal. “While studying at the Conservatory, Salome Krushelnytska received an offer from the Lviv Opera House, but she decided to continue her education. Her decision was influenced by the famous Italian singer Gemma Bellincioni, who was touring in Lviv at that time. In the fall of 1893, Salome left to study in Italy. , where her teacher was Professor Fausta Crespi. In the process of studying, a good school for Salome was performances at concerts in which she sang opera arias. In the second half of the 1890s, her triumphant performances began on the stages of theaters around the world: Italy, Spain, France, Portugal, Russia, Poland, Austria, Egypt, Argentina, Chile in the operas "Aida", "Troubadour" by D. Verdi, "Faust" by S. Gounod, "Terrible Yard" by S. Monyushko, "African" by D. Meyerbeer, "Manon Lescaut "and" Chio-Cio-San "by G. Puccini," Carmen "by J. Bizet," Electra "by R. Strauss," Eugene Onegin "and" The Queen of Spades "by P. Tchaikovsky, etc. February 17, 1904 in at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Giacomo Puccini presented his new opera Madame Butterfly. " The composer was never so sure of success ... but the audience booed the opera with indignation. The renowned maestro felt crushed. Friends persuaded Puccini to rework his work, and invite Salome Krushelnitskaya to the main role. On May 29, on the stage of the Teatro Grande in Brescia, the new Madame Butterfly premiered, this time a triumphant one. The audience summoned the actors and the composer to the stage seven times. After the performance, touched and grateful Puccini sent Krushelnitskaya his portrait with the inscription: "The most beautiful and charming Butterfly." In 1910 S. Krushelnitskaya married the mayor of the city of Viareggio (Italy) and the lawyer Cesare Riccioni, who was a fine connoisseur of music and an erudite aristocrat. They were married in one of the temples in Buenos Aires. After the wedding, Cesare and Salome settled in Viareggio, where Salome bought a villa, which she named "Salome" and continued to tour. In 1920, Krushelnitskaya left the opera stage at the zenith of fame, performing for the last time at the Naples Theater in her favorite operas Lorelei and Lohengrin. She devoted her further life to chamber concert activities, performing songs in 8 languages. Carried out a tour of Europe and America. All these years, until 1923, she constantly came to her homeland and performed in Lvov, Ternopil and other cities of Galicia. She was tied by strong bonds of friendship with many figures in Western Ukraine. Concerts dedicated to the memory of T. Shevchenko and I. Ya. Frank. In 1929, the last tour of S. Krushelnitskaya took place in Rome. In 1938, Krushelnitskaya's husband, Cesare Riccioni, died. In August 1939, the singer visited Galicia and, due to the outbreak of World War II, was unable to return to Italy. During the German occupation of Lvov, S. Krushelnitskaya was very poor, so she gave private vocal lessons. In the post-war period, S. Krushelnytska began working at the Lysenko Lviv State Conservatory. However, her teaching career had barely begun and almost ended. During the "purge of cadres from nationalist elements" she was charged with the lack of a conservatory diploma. Later, the diploma was found in the funds of the city history museum. Living and teaching in the Soviet Union, Salome Amvrosievna, despite numerous appeals, for a long time could not obtain Soviet citizenship, remaining a subject of Italy. Finally, having written a statement about the transfer of her Italian villa and all property to the Soviet state, Krushelnitskaya became a citizen of the USSR. The villa was immediately sold, compensating the owner for a meager part of its value. In 1951, Salome Krushelnitskaya was awarded the title of Honored Art Worker of the Ukrainian SSR, and in October 1952, a month before her death, Krushelnitskaya received the title of professor. On November 16, 1952, the heart of the great singer stopped beating. She was buried in Lviv at the Lychakiv cemetery next to the grave of her friend and mentor - Ivan Franko. In 1993, in Lviv, a street was named after S. Krushelnytska where she lived the last years of her life. The memorial museum of Salome Krushelnitskaya was opened in the singer's apartment. Today the name of S. Krushelnytska is the Lviv Opera House, Lviv Music Secondary School, Ternopil Music College (where the newspaper "Salome" is published), 8-year school in the village of Belaya, streets in Kiev, Lvov, Ternopil, Buchach (see Salome Krushelnytska Street ). A bronze monument to Salome Krushelnytska is erected in the Mirror Hall of the Lviv Opera and Ballet Theater. Many artistic, musical and cinematographic works are devoted to the life and work of Salome Krushelnitskaya. In 1982, at the A. Dovzhenko film studio, director O. Fialko shot a historical and biographical film "The Return of the Butterfly" (based on the novel of the same name by V. Vrublevskaya), dedicated to the life and work of Salome Krushelnitskaya. The picture is based on the real facts of the singer's life and is built like her memories. The parts of Salome are performed by Gisela Tsipola. The role of Salome in the film was played by Elena Safonova. In addition, documentaries have been created, in particular, "Salome Krushelnitskaya" (directed by I. Mudrak, Lvov, "The Bridge", 1994) "Two Lives of Salome" (directed by A. Frolov, Kiev, "Contact", 1997), the cycle "Names" (2004), the documentary film "Solo-mea" from the cycle "The Game of Fate" (directed by V. Obraz, studio VIATEL, 2008). March 18, 2006 on the stage of the Lviv National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater named after S. Krushelnytska hosted the premiere of Miroslav Skorik's ballet The Return of the Butterfly, based on facts from the life of Salome Krushelnytska. The ballet uses the music of Giacomo Puccini. In 1995, the premiere of the play "Salome Krushelnitskaya" (author B. Melnichuk, I. Lyakhovsky) took place at the Ternopil Regional Drama Theater (now the Academic Theater). Since 1987, the Salome Krushelnytska Competition has been held in Ternopil. An international competition named after Krushelnytska is held annually in Lviv; opera festivals have become traditional.

Lyubov Yuryevna Kazarnovskaya - Soviet and Russian opera singer, soprano. Doctor of Music Sciences, Professor. Lyubov Yurievna Kazarnovskaya was born on May 18, 1956 in Moscow, mother, Kazarnovskaya Lidia Aleksandrovna - philologist, teacher of Russian language and literature, father, Kazarnovsky Yuri Ignatievich - general in reserve, older sister - Bokadorova Natalya Yurievna - philologist, professor of French language and literature. Lyuba always sang, after school she risked applying to the Gnessin Institute - the faculty of musical theater actors, although she was preparing to become a student at the faculty of foreign languages. Student years gave Lyuba a lot as an actress, but the decisive meeting was with Nadezhda Matveyevna Malysheva-Vinogradova, a wonderful teacher, vocalist, accompanist of Chaliapin, a student of Stanislavsky himself. In addition to invaluable singing lessons, Nadezhda Matveevna, the widow of the literary critic and Pushkin scholar Academician V.V. Vinogradov, revealed to Lyuba all the power and beauty of Russian classics, taught her to understand the hidden unity of music and words. The meeting with Nadezhda Matveyevna finally determined the fate of the young singer. In 1981, at the age of 21, while still a student at the Moscow Conservatory, Lyubov Kazarnovskaya made her debut in the role of Tatiana (Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky) on the stage of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater. Laureate of the All-Union Glinka Competition (II prize). Since then, Lyubov Kazarnovskaya has been at the center of the musical life of Russia. In 1982 she graduated from the Moscow State Conservatory, in 1985 - graduate school in the class of associate professor Shumilova Elena Ivanovna. 1981-1986 - Soloist of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Academic Theater, in the repertoire “Eugene Onegin” by Tchaikovsky, “Iolanta”, “May Night” by Rimsky-Korsakov, “Pagliacci” by Leoncavallo, “La Boheme” by Puccini. 1984 - at the invitation of Svetlanov sang the part of Fevronia in a new production of Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh" Academic Theater of Russia. 1984 - Grand Prix of the UNESCO Young Performers Competition (Bratislava). Laureate of the Competition Miriam Hellin (Helsinki) - III prize and an honorary diploma for the performance of the Italian aria - personally from the chairman of the competition and the legendary Swedish opera singer Birgit Nilsson. 1986 - Laureate of the Lenin Komsomol Prize. 1986 -1989 - Leading soloist of the State Academic Theater. Kirov: Leonora (“The Force of Destiny” by Verdi), Margarita (“Faust” by Gounod), Donna Anna and Donna Elvira (“Don Giovanni” by Mozart), Leonora (“Troubadour” by Verdi), Violetta (“Traviatta” by Verdi), Tatiana ( “Eugene Onegin” by Tchaikovsky), Liza (“The Queen of Spades” by Tchaikovsky), Soprano (“Requiem” by Verdi). Close collaboration with conductors such as Jansson, Temirkanov, Kolobov, Gergiev. The first foreign triumph - at the Covent Garden Theater (London), as Tatiana in Tchaikovsky's opera “Eugene Onegin” (1988) 1989. - “Maestro of the World” Herbert von Karajan invites the young singer to “her own” festival - the summer festival in Salzburg. In August 1989 - a triumphal debut in Salzburg (Verdi's Requiem, conductor Ricardo Muti). The entire musical world noted and appreciated the performance of a young soprano from Russia. This sensational performance marked the beginning of a dizzying career, which later led her to such opera houses as Covent Garden, Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro Colon, Houston Grand Opera. Her partners are Pavarotti, Domingo, Carreras, Araiza, Nucci, Capucciilli, Cossotto, von Stade, Baltza. September 1989 - participation in the world gala concert on the stage of the State Academic Bolshoi Theater of Russia in support of the victims of the earthquake in Armenia together with Kraus, Bergonzi, Prey, Arkhipova. October 1989 - took part in the tour of the Milan Opera House "La Scala" in Moscow (G. Verdi "Requiem"). 1991 - Salzburg. 1992-1998 - close cooperation with the Metropolitan Opera. 1994-1997 - close cooperation with the Mariinsky Theater and Valery Gergiev. In 1996, Lyubov Kazarnovskaya successfully made her debut at the Teatro alla Scala in Prokofiev's opera The Gambler, and in February 1997 she sang with triumph the role of Salome at the Santa Cecilia Theater in Rome. Leading opera masters of our time work with her - such conductors as Muti, Levine, Thielemann, Barenboim, Haitink, Temirkanov, Kolobov, Gergiev, directors - Dzefirelli, Egoyan, Vikk, Taymor, Dew ... "La Kazarnovskaya", as it is named by the Italian press and has more than fifty parts in its repertoire. She is called the best Salome of our days, the best performer of operas by Verdi and Verists, not to mention the role of Tatyana from Eugene Onegin, her calling card. She was especially successful in performing the main roles in the operas Salome by Richard Strauss, Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky, Manon Lescaut and Tosca by Puccini, The Force of Destiny and Traviatta by Verdi. 1997 - Lyubov Kazarnovskaya creates her own organization in Russia - “The Lyubov Kazarnovskaya Foundation”, to support the opera art of Russia: invites leading masters of vocal art to Russia for concerts and master classes, such as Renata Scotto, Franco Bonisolli, Simon Estes , Jose Cura et al. , establishes scholarships to help young Russian singers. * 1998-2000 - close cooperation with the Bolshoi Theater of Russia. 2000 - the singer patronizes the world's only Children's Opera House named after Lubovi Kazarnovskaya (Dubna). With this theater, Lyubov Kazarnovskaya plans interesting projects in Russia and abroad. 2000 - Heads the Creative Coordination Council of the Cultural Center “Union of Cities”, carrying out extensive cultural and educational work in cities and regions of Russia. 12/25/2000 - in the concert hall “Russia” another premiere took place - the brilliant opera show “Faces of Love”, which was broadcast live all over the world. The three-hour musical action, presented for the first time in the world by a leading opera singer, became the event of the last year of the outgoing century and drew enthusiastic responses in Russia and abroad. 2002 - Lyubov Kazarnovskaya is in the center of active social activities, was elected Chairman of the Commission for Cultural and Humanitarian Cooperation of municipalities of the Russian Federation, is the Chairman of the Board of the Russian Musical Educational Society. Lyubov Kazarnovskaya was awarded a diploma from a prestigious center in Cambridge (England) as one of the 2000 most outstanding musicians of the 20th century. The creative life of Lyubov Kazarnovskaya is a series of impetuous and irrepressible victories, discoveries, achievements, for which the epithet “first” is appropriate in many respects: * Grand Prix at the UNESCO vocal competition. * Kazarnovskaya is the first Russian soprano invited to Salzburg by Herbert von Karajan. * The only Russian singer to have performed Mozart's parts in the composer's homeland in Salzburg on his 200th birthday. * The first and still the only Russian singer to perform the most difficult part of Salome (“Salome” by Richard Strauss) on the largest opera stages in the world with tremendous success. L. Kazarnovskaya is considered the best Salome of our days. * The first singer to record (on CD) all 103 of Tchaikovsky's romances. * With these discs and her numerous concerts in all musical centers of the world, Lyubov Kazarnovskaya opens the musical creativity of Russian composers to the Western public. * The first opera singer on an international scale, who made an unprecedented show in its range - opera, operetta, romance, chanson ... * The first and only singer who performed two roles in one evening (in the operas “Manon Lescaut” by Puccini) in the play “Portrait of Manon ”On the stage of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia. Recently, Lyubov Kazarnovskaya, in addition to her international activities, has given a lot of time and energy to the development of musical life in the Russian regions. Without a doubt, she is the most striking phenomenon in the vocal and musical life of Russia, and the press devoted to her is unprecedented in genre and volume. Her repertoire includes over 50 operatic roles and a huge repertoire of chamber music. Her favorite roles are Tatiana, Violetta, Salome, Tosca, Manon Lescaut, Leonora ("The Force of Destiny"), Amelia ("Masquerade Ball"). Choosing a program for solo evenings, Kazarnovskaya avoids a scattered selection of even winning, attractive things, giving preference to peculiar cycles representing the work of different authors. The singer's uniqueness, brightness of interpretation, subtle sense of style, individual approach to the embodiment of the most complex images in the works of different eras make her performances true events of cultural life. Numerous audio and video recordings emphasize the enormous vocal possibilities, high style and the greatest musical talent of this brilliant singer, who actively demonstrates the real level of Russian culture to the whole world. The American company VAI (Video Artists International) has released a series of video tapes with the participation of the Russian diva, including "Great Singers of Russia 1901-1999" (two tapes), "Gypsy Love" (video recording of Lyubov Kazarnovskaya's concert in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory). Lyubov Kazarnovskaya's discography includes recordings for DGG, Philips, Delos, Naxos, Melodia. Currently, Lyubov Kazarnovskaya prepares new programs for solo concerts, new operatic roles (Carmen, Isolde, Lady Macbeth), plans numerous tours abroad and across Russia, acts in films. She has been married to Robert Rostsik since 1989; in 1993, her son Andrei was born. These few quotes are just a small part of the enthusiastic responses that accompany Lyubov Kazarnovskaya's performances: "Her voice is deep and seductively seductive ... Touching, beautifully executed scenes from Tatyana's letter and her last meeting with Onegin leave no doubt about the singer's highest skill (Metropolitan Opera," New York Times ")" Powerful, deep, superbly controlled soprano, expressive across the entire range ... The range and brightness of the vocal characteristics are especially impressive "(Lincoln Center, recital, New York Times)" Kazarnovskaya's voice is focused, delicately deep in the middle register and light in the upper ... She is a radiant Desdemona "(France," Le Monde de la Musique ")" ... Lyuba Kazarnovskaya charmed the audience with her sensual, magically sounding soprano in all registers "(" Muenchner Merkur ")" Russian Diva so radiant in the role of Salome, - the ice began to melt on the streets when Lyuba Kazarnovskaya sang the final scene of Salome ... "(" Cincinnati Enquirer ") Infor mation and photos from the official site: http://www.kazarnovskaya.com New site about beautiful flowers. The world of irises. Breeding, leaving, transplanting irises.

Ekaterina Shcherbachenko - Russian opera singer (soprano), soloist of the Bolshoi Theater. Ekaterina Nikolaevna Shcherbachenko (nee Telegin) was born on January 31, 1977 in Ryazan. In 1996 she graduated from the Ryazan Musical College named after V.I. G. and A. Pirogov, having received the specialty "choir conductor". In 2005 she graduated from the Moscow State Conservatory. PI Tchaikovsky (teacher - Professor Marina Alekseeva) and there she continued her studies in graduate school. In the opera studio of the Conservatory she sang the part of Tatiana in the opera "Eugene Onegin" by P. Tchaikovsky and the part of Mimi in the opera "La Boheme" by G. Puccini. In 2005, she was a soloist-trainee of the opera troupe of the Moscow Academic Musical Theater. K.S. Stanislavsky and V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko. In this theater she performed the part of Lida in the operetta "Moscow, Cheryomushki" by D. Shostakovich and the part of Fiordiligi in the opera "This is how all women act" by W.A. Mozart. In 2005 at the Bolshoi Theater she sang the part of Natasha Rostova in the premiere of the opera War and Peace by S. Prokofiev (second edition), after which she received an invitation to the Bolshoi Theater as a permanent member of the opera company. Her repertoire at the Bolshoi Theater includes the following roles: Natasha Rostova (War and Peace by S. Prokofiev) Tatiana (Eugene Onegin by P. Tchaikovsky) Liu (Turandot by G. Puccini) Mimi (La Boheme by G. Puccini) Michaela ("Carmen" by J. Bizet) Iolanta ("Iolanta" by P. Tchaikovsky) In 2004 she sang the part of Lida in the operetta "Moscow, Cheryomushki" at the Lyon Opera (conductor Alexander Lazarev). In 2007 in Denmark she took part in the performance of S. Rachmaninov's cantata "The Bells" with the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra (conductor Alexander Vedernikov). In 2008 she sang the role of Tatiana at the Cagliari Opera House (Italy, conductor Mikhail Jurowski, directors Moshe Leyser, Patrice Corier, production of the Mariinsky Theater). In 2003 she received a diploma from the International Competition "New Voices" in Gütersloh (Germany). In 2005 she won the 3rd prize at the International Opera Competition in Shizuoka (Japan). In 2006 - III prize at the International V.I. Francisco Vinyasa in Barcelona (Spain), where she also received a special prize as "Best performer of Russian music", the "Friends of the Opera Sabadella" prize and the prize of the Musical Association of Catania (Sicily). In 2009, she won the BBC Singer of the World competition in Cardiff and was also awarded a Triumph Youth Grant.

Inva Mula is an Albanian opera singer, soprano. She occupies a significant place in the opera world, however, outside the opera stage, she is best known for her performance of an aria in the film "The Fifth Element". Inva Mula was born on June 27, 1963 in Tirana, Albania, her father Avni Mula is a famous Albanian singer and composer, her daughter's name - Inva is the reverse reading of her father's name. She studied vocals and piano in her hometown, first at a music school, then at a conservatory under the guidance of her mother, Nina Mula. In 1987, Inva won the "Singer of Albania" competition in Tirana, in 1988 - at the George Enescu International Competition in Bucharest. The opera debut took place in 1990 at the Theater of Opera and Ballet in Tirana with the role of Leila in Georges Bizet's Pearl Seekers. Soon, Inva Mula left Albania and got a job as a singer in the choir of the Paris National Opera (Opera Bastille and Opera Garnier). In 1992, Inva Mula won first prize at the Butterfly competition in Barcelona. The main success, after which she became famous, was the prize in the first Placido Domingo "Operalia" competition in Paris in 1993. The final gala concert of this competition was held at the Opera Garnier, a disc and tenor Placido Domingo was released with the winners of the competition, including with Inva Mula repeated this program at the Opera Bastille, as well as in Brussels, Munich and Oslo. This tour drew attention to her and the singer began to be invited to perform in various opera houses of the world. The range of roles of Inva Mula is wide enough, she sings Verdi's Gilda in Rigoletto, Nanette in Falstaff and Violetta in La Traviata. Her other roles are Michaela in Carmen, Antonia in Hoffmann's Tales, Musetta and Mimi in La Boheme, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Nedda in Pagliacci, Magda and Lisette in Swallow and many others. Inva Mula's career continues successfully, she regularly performs in European and world opera houses, including La Scala in Milan, Vienna State Opera, Arena di Verona, Lyric Opera Chicago, Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, as well as theaters in Tokyo, Barcelona, ​​Toronto , Bilbao and others. Inva Mula chose Paris as her home, and is now considered more of a French singer than Albanian. She regularly appears in French theaters in Toulouse, Marseille, Lyon and, of course, in Paris. In 2009/10 Inva Mula opened the Paris Opera season with Opéra Bastille, starring in the rarely performed opera Mireille by Charles Gounod. Inva Mula has released several albums, television and video recordings of her performances on DVD, including the operas La Boheme, Falstaff and Rigoletto. The recording of the opera "The Swallow" with conductor Antonio Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra in 1997 won the Gramaphone award for "Best Recording of the Year". Until the mid-1990s, Inva Mula was married to the Albanian singer and composer Pirro Tchako and at the beginning of her career she used either her husband's surname or the double surname Mula-Tchako, after the divorce she began to use only her first name - Inva Mula. Inva Mula, outside the operatic stage, made a name for herself by voicing the role of Diva Plavalaguna (a tall, blue-skinned alien with eight tentacles) in Jean-Luc Besson's fantasy film The Fifth Element, starring Bruce Williss and Mila Jovovich. The singer performed the aria "Oh, fair sky! .. Sweet sound" (Oh, giusto cielo! .. Il dolce suono) from the opera "Lucia di Lammermoor" by Gaetano Donizetti and the song "Dance of the Diva", in which, most likely, the voice underwent electronic processing to achieve an unbelievable height of sound for humans, although the filmmakers claim the opposite. Director Luc Besson wanted the film to feature the voice of his favorite singer, Maria Callas, but the quality of the available recordings was not good enough to be used on the film's soundtrack and Inva Mula was hired for the soundtrack.

Yulia Novikova is a Russian opera singer, soprano. Julia Novikova was born in St. Petersburg in 1983. She began to study music at the age of 4. She graduated with honors from a music school (piano and flute). For nine years she was a member and soloist of the Children's Choir of Television and Radio of St. Petersburg under the direction of S.F. Gribkov. In 2006 she graduated with honors from the St. ON. Rimsky-Korsakov, vocal class (teacher O.D. Kondina). During her studies at the Conservatory she sang the roles of Suzanne (The Marriage of Figaro), Serpina (The Maid-Lady), Martha (The Tsar's Bride) and Violetta (La Traviata) at the opera studio. Yulia Novikova made her professional debut in 2006 at the Mariinsky Theater as Flora in B. Britten's The Turn of the Screw (conducted by V. Gergiev and P. Smelkov). Julia got her first permanent contract at the Dortmund theater when she was still a student at the conservatory. In 2006-2008. Julia performed at the Dortmund Theater the roles of Olympia (The Tales of Hoffmann), Rosina (The Barber of Seville), Queen of Shemakhan (The Golden Cockerel) and Gilda (Rigoletto), as well as the role of the Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute) in opera in Frankfurt. In the 2008-2009 season. Julia returned with the part of the Queen of the Night to the Frankfurt Opera, and also performed this part in Bonn. Also this season were performed Oscar ("Masquerade Ball"), Medoro ("Furious Orlando" by Vivaldi), Blondchen ("Abduction from the Seraglio") at the Bonn Opera, Gilda - in Lübeck, Olympia - at the Komische Oper (Berlin). Season 2009-2010 began with a successful performance as Gilda in the premiere production of Rigoletto at the Berliner Komische Oper. This was followed by the Queen of the Night at the Hamburg and Vienna State Operas, at the Berlin Staatsoper, Gilda and Adina ("Love Potion") at the Bonn Opera, Zerbinetta ("Ariadne auf Naxos") at the Strasbourg Opera, Olympia at the Komische operas, and Rosina in Stuttgart ... On September 4 and 5, 2010, Julia performed the part of Gilda in the live TV broadcast of Rigoletto from Mantua to 138 countries (producer A. Andermann, conductor Z. Meta, director M. Belokchio, Rigoletto P. Domingo, etc.). In the 2010-2011 season. Julia will perform with the pariah of Amina (Somnambula) in Bonn, Norina (Don Pasquale) in Washington, Gilda at the Comische Berlin, Olympia at the Frankfurt and Oscar operas, Queen of the Night, Zerbinetta and Adina at the Vienna State Opera. Yulia Novikova also appears in concerts. Julia has performed with the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra (conductor J. Darlington), with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie orchestra (director Ch. Poppen), as well as in Bordeaux, Nancy, Paris (Champs Elysees Theater), Carnegie Hall (New York). There were recitals at the Grachten Festival in Amsterdam and the Muziekdriedaagse Festival in The Hague, as well as a gala concert at the Budapest Opera. In the near future, a concert with the Berne Chamber Orchestra and a New Year's concert in Vienna are planned. Yulia Novikova - winner and laureate of several international music competitions: - Operalia (Budapest, 2009) - first prize and audience award; - Musical debut (Landau, 2008) - winner, winner of the Emmerich Smola Prize; - New Voices (Gutersloh, 2007) - Audience Award; - International Competition in Geneva (2007) - Audience Award; - International Competition. Wilhelm Stenhammar (Norrköpping, 2006) - third prize and prize for the best performance of contemporary Swedish music. Information from the official website of the singer Yulia Novikova http://www.julianovikova.com/

Samara Academic Opera and Ballet Theater is a musical theater in Samara, Russia. The Samara Academic Opera and Ballet Theater is one of the largest Russian musical theaters. The opening of the theater took place on June 1, 1931 with Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov. Its origins were outstanding Russian musicians - a student of Taneyev and Rimsky-Korsakov, conductor and composer Anton Eichenwald, conductor of the Bolshoi Theater Ariy Pazovsky, famous Russian conductor Isidor Zak, director of the Bolshoi Theater Joseph Lapitsky. Such masters as conductors Savely Bergolts, Lev Ossovsky, director Boris Ryabikin, singers Alexander Dolsky, People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR Nikolai Poludenny, People's Artist of Russia Viktor Chernomortsev, People's Artist of the RSFSR, future soloist of the Bolshoi Theater Natalia Shpiller, Lorey and many others. The ballet troupe was headed by the soloist of the Mariinsky Theater, a participant in the legendary Diaghilev seasons in Paris, Yevgeny Lopukhova. She opened a series of brilliant Petersburg choreographers, who in different years stood at the head of the Samara ballet. The choreographers of the Samara Theater were the talented choreographer Natalya Danilova, a student of Agrippina Vaganova, the legendary Petersburg ballerina Alla Shelest, the soloist of the Mariinsky Theater Igor Chernyshev, People's Artist of the USSR Nikita Dolgushin. The theater is rapidly gaining a repertoire. The productions of the 1930s include opera and ballet classics: operas by Tchaikovsky, Glinka, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Dargomyzhsky, Rossini, Verdi, Puccini, ballets by Tchaikovsky, Minkus, Adam. According to the requirements of the time, the theater pays great attention to the modern repertoire. In the pre-war period, for the first time in the country, the operas "The Steppe" by A. Eichenwald, "Tanya" by Kreitner, "The Taming of the Shrew" by Shebalin and others were staged. Its posters contain dozens of titles, from the classics of the 18th century. ("Medea" by Cherubini, "The Secret Marriage" by Cimarosa) and little performed works by Russian composers of the 19th century. ("Servilia" by Rimsky-Korsakov, "The Enchantress" by Tchaikovsky, "Elka" by Rebikov) to the European avant-garde of the 20th century. ("The Dwarf" by von Zemlinsky, "Les Noces" by Stravinsky, "Arlecchino" by Busoni). A special page in the life of the theater is co-creation with contemporary Russian authors. Outstanding Russian composers Sergei Slonimsky and Andrei Eshpai, Tikhon Khrennikov and Andrei Petrov entrusted their works to our stage. The world premiere of Slonim's opera The Vision of Ioann the Terrible, staged by the great 20th century musician Mstislav Rostropovich in collaboration with outstanding stage masters, director Robert Sturua and artist Georgy Alexi-Meskhishvili, became a significant event far beyond the Samara cultural life. By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the cultural situation in the city changed dramatically. In October 1941, the State Bolshoi Theater of the USSR was evacuated to Kuibyshev / Samara (the "reserve capital"). The artistic initiative passes to the greatest masters of the Soviet opera and ballet scene. For 1941 - 1943 The Bolshoi Theater showed 14 operas and ballets in Samara. World famous singers Ivan Kozlovsky, Maxim Mikhailov, Mark Reisen, Valeria Barsova, Natalia Shpiller, ballerina Olga Lepeshinskaya performed on the Samara stage, Samosud, Fayer, Melik-Pashaev conducted. Until the summer of 1943, the Bolshoi Theater collective lived and worked in Kuibyshev. In gratitude for the help of local residents in this difficult time, his artists came to the Volga more than once after the war with their new works, as well as with the historical repertoire of the war. In 2005, in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, the collective of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia presented the Samara audience with a new meeting with their art. Tours and concerts (Shostakovich's ballet The Bright Stream, Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov, the great Victory Symphony - Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony, a brass band and opera soloists' concert) were a triumphant success. As the General Director of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia A. Iksanov noted, "For the entire staff of the Bolshoi Theater, these tours are another opportunity to express deep gratitude to the residents of Samara for the fact that the Bolshoi Theater found a second home here in the most difficult war time." The pinnacle of the musical life of Samara in the twentieth century, a truly historic event was the performance on the stage of the Samara Opera House of the Seventh ("Leningrad") Symphony by Dmitry Shostakovich. The great work, reflecting the tragic events of wartime, conveying all the greatness of the feat of Soviet soldiers, was completed by the composer in December 1941 in evacuation in Samara and performed by the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra under the direction of Samuil Samosud on March 5, 1942. The theater lives an intense life. Reconstruction is coming to an end, new names appear on the poster, singers and dancers win prestigious international and all-Russian competitions, new creative forces are pouring into the troupe. The theater staff can be proud of the concentration of talented, bright creative individuals. Honored Artists of Russia Mikhail Gubsky and Vasily Svyatkin are soloists not only of the Samara Theater, but also of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia and the Moscow Novaya Opera Theater. Anatoly Nevdakh takes part in the performances of the Bolshoi Theater, Andrey Antonov successfully performs on the stages of Russian and foreign theaters. The level of the opera troupe is also proved by the presence of a large number of "titled" singers in it: 5 people's artists, 8 honored artists, 10 laureates of international and all-Russian competitions. There are many talented young people in the troupe, with whom the older generation of artists willingly shares the secrets of their skills. Since 2008, the theater's ballet troupe has raised the bar significantly. The collective of the theater was headed by the Honored Artist of Russia Kirill Shmorgoner, who for a long time adorned the ballet troupe of the Perm Theater. K. Shmorgoner invited to the theater a large group of his students, graduates of one of the best educational institutions in the country - the Perm Choreographic School. Young ballet dancers Yekaterina Pervushina and Viktor Malygin became laureates of the prestigious international Arabesque competition, a whole group of Samara dancers successfully performed at the Delphic Games all-Russian festival. In recent years, the theater has hosted several premieres that have received a great audience resonance: the operas Mozart and Salieri by Rimsky-Korsakov, Mavra by Stravinsky, The Maid-Lady by Pergolesi, Eugene Onegin by Tchaikovsky, Rigoletto by Verdi, Madame Butterfly ”by Puccini, choreographic cantata“ Les Noces ”by Stravinsky, ballet by Hertel“ A Vain Precaution ”. The theater actively collaborates in these productions with Moscow masters from the Bolshoi Theater, Novaya Opera, and other Russian theaters. Much attention is paid to staging musical fairy tales for children. Opera and ballet dancers also perform on the concert stage. The theater's touring routes include Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Spain, China, and Russian cities. The intensive touring practice of the theater allowed the residents of the Samara region to get acquainted with the latest works. Festivals are a bright page in the life of the theater. Among them are the Alla Shelest classical ballet festival, the international festival “Basses of the XXI century”, “Five evenings in Togliatti”, the festival of opera art “Samara spring”. Thanks to the theater's festival initiatives, Samara spectators could get acquainted with the art of dozens of the greatest masters of Russian and foreign opera and ballet art. The creative plans of the theater include performances of the opera "Prince Igor", ballets "Don Quixote", "The Sleeping Beauty". By the 80th anniversary, the theater plans to show Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov, thus returning to its origins at a new stage in its historical development. On the central square of the city rises a massive gray building - according to the opinions of art critics, “a grandiose monument of the late“ pilonade style ”to which brutal classics have been added”, “a striking example of architecture of the 30s”. The authors of the project are Leningrad architects N.A. Trotsky and N. D. Katselenegbogen, who won the competition for the creation of the Palace of Culture in 1935. The theater was located in the central part of the building. In the left wing there was a regional library for some time, in the right wing there was a sports school and an art museum. In 2006, the reconstruction of the building began, requiring the eviction of the sports school and the museum. By 2010, the theater's jubilee season, the reconstruction was completed. Source: the official website of the Samara Opera and Ballet Theater

Opera Bastille (opera de la Bastille) is a modern opera house in Paris, France. Built in 1989. Together with the Opera Garnier they form the public-commercial enterprise "State Paris Opera". It is the largest opera house in Europe with a total of 2,703 seats in the great hall. The proposal to build a new opera house in Paris, in addition to the existing ones, was put forward back in 1968 by an initiative group headed by the composer Pierre Boulez, choreographer Maurice Béjart and director Jean Vilar. In 1982, President François Mitterrand decided to build a new opera in Paris, "modern and popular", bringing classical music to the masses, with which the Opera Garnier could no longer cope. In 1983, an international competition was organized, for which 756 projects from over 1,700 architects were submitted. The winner of the competition was a little-known architect from Uruguay and living in Canada, Carlos Ott. For the construction of a new opera house, a site was chosen near the Place de la Bastille, which housed the inoperative railway station that served the city from 1859 to 1969, which at the time of demolition housed several exhibitions. The dismantling of the Bastille station began in 1984. The grand opening of the theater took place on July 13, 1989 - on the two hundredth anniversary of the taking of the Bastille in the presence of many heads of other states. The Bastille Theater opened with Bob Wilson's The Night Before Morning and a gala concert featuring Teresa Berganza, Placido Domingo, Barbara Hendrix and other opera stars. However, the theater started working regularly only on March 17, 1990 with the production of Hector Berlioz's opera "The Trojans". The theater building is made mainly of gray-blue glass and is especially beautiful at night, when it shines from the inside. The Great Hall has a rectangular shape, rather than a horseshoe-shaped one for opera houses, and the audience is seated in front of the stage. The new theater has a complex system of mobile platforms with automated control - nine stages can be prepared at the same time, if necessary, they can quickly change each other and switch from one show to another during the day, alternating performances. There are four halls inside the theater: a large hall with 2,703 seats, an amphitheater with 450 seats, a studio hall with 237 seats, and Gounod's hall for orchestra rehearsals. Criticism and lack of: Even before the start of construction, this project caused a lot of criticism and scandals. Some found the building too large and bulky, not fitting in with the surrounding architecture, and called it a "hippopotamus". The first years of the theater's operation were accompanied by frequent failures in the automated control of stage mechanisms, later they were debugged. The hall itself is too large and the seats are located far from the stage, the stairs are too long, the sound is "cold". Due to the very rapid deterioration of the facade of the building, since 1996, the outer coating began to fall off from it, which was dangerous for passers-by, and for a long time the theater was forced to be covered with a protective mesh. The state started a lawsuit against the contractors, accusing them of poor quality work. The state won this process only in 2007, and began to renovate the decaying cladding of the building.

The Metropolitan Opera is a musical theater at Lincoln Center in New York, New York, USA. The largest opera house in the world. It is often called "Met" in abbreviated form. The theater belongs to the most famous opera stages in the world. The artistic director of the theater is James Levine. CEO - Peter Gelb. Created with funds from the Metropolitan Opera House Company. Subsidized by wealthy firms, individuals. The Metropolitan Opera opened with a performance of Charles Gounod's Faust on October 22, 1883, with Swedish soprano Christina Nilsson as the female lead. The theater is open seven months a year: from September to April. About 27 operas are staged per season. The performances are held daily, there are about 220 performances in total. The theater goes on tour from May to June. In addition, in July, the theater gives free performances in the parks of New York, attracting a huge number of spectators. There are regular radio and TV broadcasts. The orchestra and choir of the theater work on a permanent basis, and soloists and conductors are invited on a contract basis for a season or for certain performances. Operas are traditionally performed in the original language. The repertoire is based on world classics, including those of Russian composers. The first Metropolitan Opera, designed by J. Cleveland Cady, was located on Broadway, between 39 and 40 streets. In 1966, the theater moved to the new Lincoln Center in Manhattan and has one main stage and three auxiliary stages. The main auditorium seats 3,800 and despite its size is renowned for its excellent acoustics.

Teatro San Carlo (Real Teatro di San Carlo) is an opera house in Naples, Italy. One of the oldest operating opera houses in the world. One of the largest opera houses in the world. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Teatro San Carlo was built by order of the King of Naples Charles VII (in Spain, Charles III) from the Spanish branch of the Bourbon dynasty, who wanted to provide Naples with a new and large theater, instead of the outdated San Bartolomeo Theater built in 1621. San Carlo was built by the architects Giovanni Antonio Medrano and Angelo Carasale and opened on November 4, 1737 (41 years older than La Scala in Milan and 51 years older than La Fenice in Venice). The interior of the new theater was in blue and gold colors (the official colors of the Bourbons) and admired for its architecture, the auditorium had five tiers and a large royal box. The first opera staged on the stage of San Carlo was Achilles auf Skiros by Domenico Sarro, based on a play by the famous poet and playwright Pietro Metastasio. On February 12, 1816, the Teatro San Carlo was destroyed by fire, however, it was quickly, in nine months, rebuilt again according to the project of the architect Antonio Nicolini, and less than a year later, on January 12, 1817, the opening of the new San Carlo took place with the premiere of the opera Johann Simone Mayra "Dream of Parthenope". The inauguration was attended by the famous French writer Stendhal, who expressed his impression of the theater: “There is nothing in Europe comparable to this theater, nothing can give the slightest idea of ​​what it is ..., it dazzles the eyes, it delights soul ... ". Throughout its history, the Teatro San Carlo missed only one full season of 1874/75, all the other numerous repairs and renovations that were done planned or unplanned, as in 1816 due to a fire, or in 1943 during the Second World War, when the theater suffered from bombing, or in 1969, when a part of the facade collapsed due to lightning, the theater was held quickly and the theater did not miss the seasons. Important stages in the reconstruction of the theater were in 1844, when the interior was changed and the main colors were red and gold, in 1890, when the orchestra pit was put into operation, and subsequent ones, when the theater was electrified and a new wing was attached to the building. In recent history, the theater is constantly updated, the last works were carried out in 2007 and 2008, during the last restorations, all the seats were completely replaced, an air conditioning system was installed, all decorative reliefs were gilded. The number of seats is 3285. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Neopolitan composer's opera school enjoyed great success throughout Europe, both in the field of opera-buffa and in the opera-series. Representatives of this school were composers Francesco Feo (1691-1761), Nicola Porpora (1686-1768), Tommaso Traetta (1727-1779), Niccolo Piccinni (1728-1800), Leonardo da Vinci (other) (1690-1730), Pasquale Anfossi (1727-1797), Francesco Durante (1684-1755), Niccolo Iomelli (1714-1774), Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801), Giovanni Paisiello (1741-1816), Nicolo Zingarelli (1752-1837), Giuseppe Gazzaniga ( 1743-1818) and many others. Nea pol was one of the capitals of European music and some foreign composers came specially to give the premiere of their works in San Carlo, among them Johann Adolph Hasse (who later stayed in Naples), Joseph Haydn, Johann Christian Bach, Christoph Willibald Gluck. From 1815 to 1822, the musical and artistic director of the royal opera houses, including San Carlo, was Gioacchino Rossini. Here he premiered ten of his operas: "Elizabeth, Queen of England" (1815), "Newspaper", "Othello" (1816), "Armida", (1817) "Moses in Egypt", "Ricciardo and Zoraida" (1818) , "Hermione", "Bianca and Faliero", "Edward and Christina", "The Lady of the Lake" (1819), "Mohammed II" (1820) and "Zelmira" (1822). In Naples, Rossini met his future wife, the singer of the Teatro San Carlo, Isabella Colbrand. A whole galaxy of famous singers worked (or regularly performed) in the theater, among them Manuel Garcia, himself a famous singer and teacher, he is the father of two legendary sopranos of his time - Maria Malibran and Pauline Viardot. Other famous singers were Clorinda Corradi, Maria Malibran, Giuditta Pasta, Giovanni Battista Rubini, and two great Frenchmen, Adolphe Nurri and Gilbert Dupre. After Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, another Italian opera star, became the artistic director of the Royal Operas. Donizetti remained in this position from 1822 to 1838 and wrote sixteen operas, including Mary Stuart (1834), Roberto Devereux (1837), Polyeuctti (1838) and the famous Lucia di Lammermoor (1835). Vincenzo Belini premiered Bianca and Fernando in San Carlo, Giuseppe Verdi presented Alzira (1845) and Louise Miller (1849), the premiere of his third opera Gustav III was banned by the censorship (and never appeared in the original form, later in Rome was presented a revised version called "Masquerade Ball"). In the twentieth century, such composers and conductors as Giacomo Puccini, Pietro Mascagni, Ruggiero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, Francesco Chilea worked and staged their operas in the theater.

Teatro Massimo (Italian Il Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele) is an opera house in Palermo, Italy. The theater is named after King Victor Emmanuel II. Translated from Italian, Massimo means the largest, greatest - the architectural complex of the theater is the largest among the buildings of opera houses in Italy and one of the largest in Europe. In Palermo, the second largest city in southern Italy, there has long been talk of the need for an opera house in the city. In 1864, an international competition was announced by the mayor of Palermo, Antonio Rudini, for a project to build a major opera house that was supposed to beautify the city's appearance and raise the city's image in light of Italy's recent national unity. In 1968, as a result of a competition, the famous architect in Sicily, Giovanni Battista Filippo Basile, was selected. For the new theater, a place was determined, where the church and monastery of San Giuliano were located, they were demolished, despite the protests of the Franciscan nuns. According to legend, "The last abbess of the monastery" still wanders the theater halls, and those who do not believe in her always stumble on one step ("nun's step") at the entrance to the theater. Construction began with a solemn ceremony of laying the first stone on January 12, 1875, but it progressed slowly, with a constant lack of funding and scandals, in 1882 it was frozen for eight years and resumed only in 1890. In 1891, the architect Giovanni Basile died before his project was opened, and his son Ernesto Basile continued the work. On May 16, 1897, 22 years after the start of construction, the theater opened its doors to opera lovers, the first opera staged on its stage was Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff under the direction of Leopoldo Munone. Giovani Basile was inspired by ancient Sicilian architecture and thus the theater was built in a neoclassical austere style with elements of ancient Greek temples. The monumental staircase leading to the theater is decorated with bronze lions carrying statues of women on their backs - the allegorical Opera and Tragedy. The building is crowned with a large semicircular dome. Rocco Lentini, Ettore de Maria Begler, Michele Cortejani, Luigi di Giovanni worked on the interior decoration of the theater, which is sustained in the style of the late Renaissance. A spacious lobby leads to the auditorium, the hall itself is in the shape of a horseshoe, it used to be 7-tiered and designed for more than 3,000 spectators, now with five tiers of boxes and a gallery it can accommodate 1,381 seats. The first seasons were very successful. Thanks to the great businessman and Senator Ignazio Florio, who sponsored the theater and sought to make Palermo the opera capital, the city attracted many guests, including the crowned heads, who regularly visited the theater. Leading conductors and singers have performed at the theater, starting with Enrico Caruso, Giacomo Puccini, Renata Tebaldi, and many others. In 1974, the Massimo Theater was closed for a complete restoration, but due to corruption scandals and political instability, the restoration was delayed for 23 years. On May 12, 1997, four days before the centenary, the theater reopened with a performance of G. Mahler's Second Symphony, but the restoration was not yet fully completed and the first opera production took place in 1998 - Verdi's Aida, and the regular opera season began in 1999 year.

Perm Academic Opera and Ballet Theater named after P.I. Tchaikovsky is one of the oldest theaters in Russia. For more than a century of its history, the Perm Opera and Ballet Theater has invariably remained the largest musical center in the country, where significant creative events take place. In the theater, which is often called the Tchaikovsky House, all the stage works of the great composer have been staged. Classical works of Borodin, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov are carefully preserved in the "golden fund" of the repertoire. The theater returns to the audience the undeservedly forgotten musical canvases. For the first time in Russia, the theater staged operas: "Foam of Days" by E. Denisov, "Cleopatra" by J. Massenet, "Lolita" by R. Shchedrin based on the novel by V. Nabokov, "Altsina" by G.F. Handel, "Orpheus" by K. Monteverdi, "Christ" by A. Rubinstein. Perm is called the third ballet Mecca, after Moscow and St. Petersburg, where the renowned choreographic school operates next to the academic ballet troupe. Since the 70s, the Perm Ballet has been in the orbit of the unflagging attention of a large audience. The unity of the performing style of the soloists and the corps de ballet is a peculiarity of the collective. The Perm Ballet is perhaps the only troupe in the Russian Federation that consists entirely of graduates from one school. For more than a decade, the Ural stage has been a kind of "launching pad" for many artists known far beyond the borders of Russia. The creative biography of many "stars of the first magnitude" of the capital and other major theaters of the country and the world began in the Perm Theater. The names of world famous dancers - Galina Ragozina-Panova, Lyubov Kunakova, Nadezhda Pavlova, Olga Chenchikova, Marat Daukaev, Yuri Petukhov, Galina Shlyapina, Svetlana Smirnova - made the Perm region famous. The Perm Theater became famous due to the participation of its opera singers and ballet dancers in international festivals. The Perm Opera and Ballet Theater is the initiator and organizer of the Arabesque Open Competition of Russian Ballet Dancers and the Diaghilev Seasons: Perm-Petersburg-Paris International Festival of Arts. Opera and ballet performances of the Perm Theater have repeatedly become nominees and winners of the All-Russian National Theater Festival "Golden Mask". The leading soloists of the Perm Theater have visited different continents of the world with performances and concert programs. Since 1973, the Perm troupe has gone on tour in full force to Austria, Italy, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand, Japan and South Korea, England, Ireland, Holland, Spain, China, USA. In France and Cuba, in Cambodia and Canada, in Thailand and Egypt, in Nicaragua, India and the USA - wherever the artists performed, they received critical acclaim and found loyal friends and admirers. The Perm Academic Opera and Ballet Theater was created in the 19th century on the initiative of the Kama region community, with the participation of the city's amateur music circle, which included the famous Diaghilev family. The official date of the theater foundation is November 24, 1870. The first performance was the opera "A Life for the Tsar" by M. Glinka. “In Perm, theater as an institution has existed for a long time. At first there was a wooden theater building on Obvinskaya Street, but it burned down in 1863. After that, a wooden theater was built, which was later dismantled ... For the first time, residents of the city of Perm saw a good troupe and, moreover, an opera troupe in the winter of 1879/80 in the still unfinished stone theater. The troupe was supported by the later famous entrepreneur P.P. Medvedev ... In 1896, a whole era began in the history of the Perm Theater. He is taken under the direct supervision of the public councilors of the city council, who decide to run the theatrical business at the expense of the city; for direct management of the theater, the city administration is selected, which is concerned with inviting artists. It was decided to maintain an opera troupe at the expense of the city. " VS Verkholantsev A short historical and statistical essay "The city of Perm, its past and present" in 1913 The first "municipal" season opened ... with the production of "Aida". In total, the directorate spent six seasons, one of which was dramatic, one was operatic and dramatic, the rest were operatic. They began in September and ended before Great Lent. Up to a hundred or more performances took place during the season, the annual repertoire included over thirty works. Basically, Russian classics were staged - "Eugene Onegin", "The Queen of Spades", "Mazepa" by P. Tchaikovsky, "Prince Igor" by A. Borodin, "Boris Godunov" by M. Mussorgsky, "The Demon" by A. Rubinstein. In addition to them, such rare guests on the modern opera stage as "The Power of the Enemy" by A. Serov, "May Night" by N. Rimsky-Korsakov, "The Stone Guest" by A. Dargomyzhsky and others. Since the mid-90s of the 19th century, Perm has been getting acquainted with the art of choreography. On November 5, 1896, Zannenfeld's small ballet "Tabor of Hungarian Gypsies" was performed. In January 1897, The Magic Flute by R. Drigo saw the light of the Perm stage, followed by The Puppet Fairy by I. Bayer ... The existence of the theater in the first two decades of the twentieth century was uneven, but the opera continued to live. Entrepreneurs supported the audience's interest in opera and the level of performances, relying on singers-premieres. A. Nezhdanova, P. Petrova-Zvantseva, N. Figner, M. Maksakov, L. Sobinov and other outstanding vocalists performed in Perm in various seasons. On August 20, 1921, the first theater season after the Civil War opened. The posters include “The Demon”, “Faust”, “Aida”, “Eugene Onegin”, “Boris Godunov”, “Rigoletto”, “The Barber of Seville”. By the end of the 1920s, Perm became one of those centers of operatic art, where outstanding vocalists and talented conductors willingly come. So in the 1925/26 season the Permians admired the inimitable Carmen F. Mukhtarova, and in the next season - I. Kozlovsky's Lensky. Throughout the spring of 1929, S. Lemeshev was on the staff of the theater. In 1925, the first theater studio was founded in Perm, which began training ballet dancers, as well as drama, chorus and orchestra. On February 2, 1926, the studio staged A. Adam's ballet Giselle. On October 20, 1931, the premiere of Swan Lake (choreographer O. Chaplygin) took place. In the pre-war years, the ballet troupe was headed by choreographers from different directions and schools. Perm balletomanes long remembered N. Goncharova, R. Minaeva, B. Korshunova, A. Bronsky, A. Yezersky and other dancers in the performances of those years. During the war, the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater named after V.I. Kirov. The Perm troupe did not stop working in the cities of the region ... Why did the former Mariinsky Theater end up in Perm, the then Molotov? ... The idea belonged to the chief conductor A. Pazovsky, who took his first steps into great art here ... The local authorities met this proposal with understanding. Leningraders worked here for three winters and two summers - a considerable period for the history of the city's musical culture ... The school of the world-famous Mariinsky ballet also ended up in Perm, which subsequently contributed to the creation of the Perm Choreographic School ... based on the book by M. Stepanov, Yu. Silin " 125 years old. Perm Academic Opera and Ballet Theater P.I. Tchaikovsky "1995. In 1931 the Perm theater was named" 2nd State Opera of the Urals ". In the postwar years, the main creative principles of the Perm Theater, laid down by its entire prehistory, began to take root. One of the fundamental principles is the renewal of the repertoire by means of works that rarely appear on the stage. The revival of the unfamiliar, forgotten, for various reasons not accepted by the Russian stage is characteristic of all periods of the theater's life. The Perm Theater opened to the public the great creations of S. Prokofiev: in the 1981-82 season. executed the author's two-evening version of the opera "War and Peace" by S. Prokofiev and for the first time in the USSR gave stage life to the opera "The Fiery Angel" (1984). The opening of many cuts of the opera "War and Peace" enlarged and expanded the folk-patriotic line of the opera, the drama of the whole became more harmonious and logical, the characters of some of the main characters became more multifaceted. This production went down in history, and was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation named after I. M.I. Glinka. Another principle of the theater's creative life is work on the works of contemporary composers. In Perm, the operas "Masquerade" by D. Tolstoy and "Sisters" by D. Kabalevsky, the ballets "Stone Flower" by A. Fridlinder, "Bela" and "Grushenka" by B. Mashkov, "Coast of Happiness" by A. Spadavekkia were given a start in life. Among the most interesting creative principles of the theater is an attempt to master the entire opera and ballet heritage of P.I. Tchaikovsky, a native of the Kama region. In 1974 the Perm Academic Theater named after P.I. Tchaikovsky invited the best soloists from many theaters of the country and all of its spectators to the First Tchaikovsky Opera and Ballet Festival. This holiday was successfully repeated in 1983 and 1988. The Perm Theater has become a true Tchaikovsky House. The “Golden Age” of the Perm Ballet, generously donated by N. Boyarchikov (chief choreographer of the theater, a student of the famous Russian choreographers F. Lopukhov and B. Fenster) to theatergoers of the 70s, has become an exciting legend for subsequent generations. Among his productions are such different in pictorial language as "The Wonderful Mandarin" by B. Bartok, "Three Cards", "Romeo and Juliet", "Tsar Boris" by S. Prokofiev, "Orpheus and Eurydice" by A. Zhurbin. N. Pavlova, O. Chenchikova, G. Shlyapina, M. Daukaev, L. Fominykh, R. Kuzmichyova, Yu. Petukhov, G. Sudakov, L. Shipulina, K. Shmorgoner, O. Levenkov, V. Dubrovin. In 1965, the Perm Opera and Ballet Theater was named after P.I. Tchaikovsky, and in 1969 - the status of an "academic" theater. Formed in the post-war years, the creative principles determined the artistic strategy of the theater in the difficult 90s. Operas that are rare for the Russian stage have sounded at the Perm Opera and Ballet Theater: “Lucia di Lammermoor” by G. Donizetti, “Don Giovanni” by V.-A. Mozart, "The Flying Dutchman" by R. Wagner, N. Rimsky-Korsakov's opera "Kaschey the Immortal", which is practically not performed in the country. In 1996, being the chief director of the theater, G. Isahakyan staged an original play "Three Faces of Love", which included one-act operas "The Paradise of Master Pedro" by M. de Falla, "Breasts of Tiresias" by F. Poulenc and "Maddalena", the first opera by the twenty-year-old S. Prokofiev, the stage language of which was largely determined by the modern " operatic "appearance of Perm. In Perm, for the first time, Alexander Tchaikovsky's opera The Three Sisters of the Prozorovs by A. Chekhov and his one-act ballet The Queen of Spades, a paraphrase to the music of P. Tchaikovsky, saw the light of the stage. Joint performances with American choreographers, directors and artists from Germany, Spain, Switzerland and other countries and continents have become a good tradition. "Peer Gynt" by E. Grieg was staged by the American choreographer Ben Stevenson, "Concerto Baroque" by I.S. Bach - a gift from the J. Balanchine Foundation. The Russian-Spanish production of the opera "Salome" by R. Strauss became a notable event at the International Festival in Madrid in autumn 1995. The Russian opera "The Golden Cockerel" by N. Rimsky-Korsakov was staged by the Swiss director D. Kegi and the artist from Germany S. Pasterkamp. To the 200th anniversary of A.S. Pushkin prepared a unique program "Opera Pushkiniana". The group of directors who worked on the "Opera Pushkiniana" was awarded the 1999 State Prize of Russia in the field of literature and art. Within the framework of "Diaghilev Seasons-2005", operas based on the plots of "Little Tragedies" by A.S. Pushkin ("The Covetous Knight", "The Stone Guest", "Mozart and Salieri", "At the Time of the Plague") and "Boris Godunov", which made up this cycle, ran throughout the whole day without interruption. In 1990, the first Open Competition of Ballet Dancers "Arabesque" took place, the artistic directors of which were Vladimir Vasiliev and Ekaterina Maksimova. For 20 years, every two years dancers from all over the world gather in Perm to participate in a ballet competition. Young singers from around the world took part in the First International Competition for Young Opera Singers, held in Perm in 1993. O. Borodina and D. Hvorostovsky, laureates of the First All-Russian Competition for Young Opera Singers, held in Perm in 1987, were one of the jury members. Tatiana Kuindzhi and Anzor Shomakhia, performers of the main roles in the Perm production of Don Pasquale, opera by G. Donizetti, were awarded the National Golden Mask Theater Prize for the best female and male role in 1996. In 1998 this prestigious award was received for the stage design of the play The Queen of Spades. Today the theater is headed by: artistic director - Commander of the Order of Friendship, laureate of the National Theater Award "Golden Mask" Teodor Currentzis, chief conductor - Honored Artist of Russia, People's Artist of the Republic of Bashkortostan Valery Platonov, Chief Guest Conductor - Honored Artist of Russia, laureate of the State Prize of the Republic Belarus, laureate of the National Theater Award "Golden Mask" Alexander Anisimov, chief ballet master - Alexei Miroshnichenko, chief choirmaster - Dmitry Batin, chief designer - Elena Solovieva. Famous stage designers from Russia and the world collaborate with the theater - Y. Ustinov, I. Akimova, V. Okunev, Y. Kharikov, A. Kozhenkova, E. Heydebrecht, Y. Cooper and many others. The "golden fund" of the theater's repertoire, as before, is made up of classics, the performances are constantly updated, preserving not a museum, but a modern art form. Russian classics are represented by the operas by A. Borodin "Prince Igor", N. Rimsky-Korsakov "The Tsar's Bride", "The Snow Maiden". Popular operas by G. Verdi, V.A. Mozart, R. Leoncavallo. In cooperation with the J. Balanchine Foundation, the long-term Russian-American project “Choreography by G. Balanchine on the Perm Stage” is being continued. The Permian public also got acquainted with the choreography of his younger contemporary, the outstanding American choreographer Jerome Robbins. Within the framework of the Russian-American cultural project "Choreography of George Balanchine on the Perm Stage", the one-act ballets "Somnambula" by V. Rieti, "Donizetti-Variations" (2001), "Ballet Imperial" were staged to the music of the Second Piano Concerto by P. Tchaikovsky (2002), "Baroque Concerto" to music of a concerto for two violins and a string orchestra by I.S. Bach and Serenade to the music of Tchaikovsky's Serenade for String Orchestra “Ballet Imperial” in 2004 won the Golden Mask festival as the best ballet performance. In 2005, a unique project "The most grandiose Swan Lake in the world" was carried out in cooperation with the Dutch company Stardust. At the turn of the millennium, the theater increasingly confirms its authority as a pioneer, continuing and enriching the traditions of the "laboratory of modern opera". In 2001, the premiere of the opera Cleopatra by J. Massenet took place, which has never been performed in Russia, and is almost unknown in the world. In 2004, for the first time in Russia, the staged magic opera by GF Handel "Altsina", the first experience of performing an old opera in the Perm Theater, opened up new facets of remarkable opera soloists. In 2007, in the year of the 400th anniversary of K. Monteverdi's opera Orpheus, this opera was staged on the Perm stage. According to Moscow critic Dmitry Morozov, “Georgy Isahakyan staged, perhaps, his best performance and made a real artistic breakthrough. Orpheus is not just the first production of Monteverdi's masterpiece in Russia, but also the first success of our theater on the field of an ancient opera. ... Orpheus turned out to be the best and certainly the most harmonious musical performance of the year. " The opera by N. Sidelnikov's "Chertogon", arousing great interest among the guests of the festival, professional musicians and critics. Significant events in recent years have been the show in Moscow at the invitation of the Theater of Nations of the performances "Lolita" and "Cleopatra", a performance on the renowned stage of the Mariinsky Theater with a program of ballets by G. Balanchine. In 2004 the opera troupe performed within the framework of the SAKRO ART festival of contemporary art in Lokkum with the world premiere of A. Shchetinsky's opera Bestiary. The play was also presented at the Theater of Nations in Moscow and at the theater festival in Yaroslavl. In the spring of 2006 and 2007, the performances of the Perm Theater - "Carmen" by J. Bizet, "The Nightingale" by I. Stravinsky, "Cinderella, or the Tale of Cinderella" by J. Massenet and "... named the Little Mermaid" by A. Dvorak - again became nominees for the "Golden Mask". The troupe's touring performances in Moscow and St. Petersburg received a great response. The participation of Perm artists in the Stars of the White Nights festival at the Mariinsky Theater, in the Baltic Seasons music festivals in Kaliningrad, Panorama of Russian Opera Theaters in Omsk, Crescendo in the capital, on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater of Russia, has increased the fame of the Perm Theater ... In January 2008, the Perm Opera toured America with great success on the stage of the famous Carnegie Hall, which once opened to the sounds of the orchestra directed by PI Tchaikovsky. Now the Perm Theater, which bears the name of PI Tchaikovsky, presented a concert "Tchaikovsky known and unknown" with arias and scenes from such operas by the great composer as "The Queen of Spades", "Cherevichki", "The Maid of Orleans", "Eugene Onegin", "Iolanta", "Oprichnik", "Ondine", "Enchantress", "Mazepa". The performances of the Perm troupe received a very warm welcome from the discerning New York public and received a wide response in the American press. Perm traditionally hosts the Arabesque Open Competition of Russian Ballet Dancers, headed by Vladimir Vasiliev and Ekaterina Maksimova. In 2003, the first international festival “Diaghilev Seasons:“ Perm - Petersburg - Paris ”was held under the patronage of UNESCO. One of the first festivals in Russia that brings together different types of art under the sign of creativity and inspiration. The first premiere of the 137th season was A. Rubinstein's spiritual opera Christ (directed by Georgy Isahakyan), staged for the first time on the Russian stage. In February 2009, the premiere of the opera "Othello" by director V. Petrov, who made his debut as a director of musical theater, took place. The Russian and world premiere of the opera One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, which appeared thanks to the creative collaboration of G. Isahakyan and composer A. Tchaikovsky and the goodwill of A. I. Solzhenitsyn, was held within the framework of the IV festival "Diaghilev Seasons". This production opened a previously largely untouched "camp" theme for operatic art. At the end of March, two modern one-act ballets premiered: Medea (choreographer Y. Possokhov) and Ring (choreographer A. Miroshnichenko). Especially for the Diaghilev Seasons, ballets were resumed in the classical choreography of M. Fokine, one of the legendary choreographers of Diaghilev's Russian Seasons: Polovtsian Dances and the miniature ballet Vision of the Rose. It was these performances that were presented by Perm artists at the Bolshoi Theater at the celebration of the centenary of Diaghilev's Russian seasons, which took place on May 30. The Perm Opera and Ballet Theater took part in the National Theater Festival “Golden Mask-2009” with the ballet performance “Le Corsaire” (choreography by Marius Petipa, updated by the director from St. Petersburg V. Medvedev) and the opera “Orpheus” (directed by G. Isahakyan), which premiered in November 2007. “Orpheus” was awarded two Golden Masks: for the best directing (stage director G. Isahakyan) and for the best stage design (production designer Ernst Heidebrecht). A year later, the theater took part in the festival with the ballet Medea (choreographer Yuri Possokhov) and the opera One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (director Georgy Isahakyan). The latter was awarded the Golden Mask in the nomination "Best Conductor Work", the award was presented to the chief conductor of the theater Valery Platonov. Source: official website of tetra

Donetsk National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater. A.B. Solovyanenko is an opera house in Donetsk, Ukraine. It was created in 1932 in the city of Lugansk on the basis of the Mobile Opera House of the Right-Bank Ukraine. In the documents of the People's Commissariat for Education of Ukraine, from March 15, 1932, it is proposed to transfer the Mobile Opera to the disposal of the Donetsk Theater Trust for permanent service of the population of Donbass. The first theatrical season was opened with A. Borodin's opera "Prince Igor" on September 1, 1932. The artistic director and director of the theater was the Honored Artist of the Republic Nikolai Nikolaevich Bogolyubov, the Musical Director and Chief Conductor of the theater was the Honored Artist of the Republic Alexander Gavrilovich Erofeev. conductor Max Cooper, director Alexander Zdikhovsky, choreographer Mark Zeitlin, artists - Oles Vlasyuk, Eduard Lyakhovich In the 1935 theater repertoire: "The Queen of Spades", "Eugene Onegin" by P. Tchaikovsky, "Carmen" J. Bizet, "Faust" Sh Gounod, "Rigoletto", "La Traviata", "Aida" by G. Verdi, "Madame Butterfly" by G. Puccini, "Pagliacci" by R. Leoncavallo, "The Barber of Seville" by G. Rossini, "Zaporozhets beyond the Danube" by S. Gulak- Artemovsky, "The Tales of Hoffmann" by J. Offenbach; ballets: "Raymonda", "Red Poppy" by R. Glier, "Ferengi" by B. Yanovsky. The theater consisted of 40 choir dancers, 45 ballet dancers, 45 orchestra artists, 3 soloists. A total of 225 people worked in the theater. By 1940, a group of talented masters of the opera stage had been formed: conductors E.M. Shekhtman, A.F. Kowalski; director A.A. Zdikhovsky, artist E.I. Lyakhovich, P.I. Zlochevsky. The first performers who brought fame to the theater were Yuri Sabinin, Nadezhda Lototskaya, Alexander Martynenko, Pavel Nikitenko, Tamara Sobetskaya, Tamara Podolskaya and others. In 1936, the construction of the theater began in Donetsk. The chief architect of the construction was Ludwig Ivanovich Kotovsky, the chief engineer was Solomon Davidovich Krol. On April 12, 1941, the Donetsk Musical Theater opens its season in a new theater building, designed by the architect Ludwig Ivanovich Kotovsky, with the premiere of the opera by M.I. Glinka "Ivan Susanin" (directors: directors IM Lapitsky, YS Presman, conductor AF Kovalsky, artist EI Lyakhovich). Today the theater building is an architectural monument. The first director and artistic director of the theater was an outstanding opera director, a follower of the Stanislavsky system in musical theater, Honored Artist of the RSFSR Yosif Lapitsky The first artists arrived at the Donetsk theater from Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Lugansk and Vinnitsa. The orchestra consisted of the best musicians of the Lugansk and Vinnitsa Opera and Ballet Theaters, the Stalin Regional Philharmonic Society. From the first days of organizing the collective, work was carried out with the audience: visiting performances, conversations, concerts. New productions of opera and ballet performances were carried out. The repertoire poster for 1941 included: Faust, opera by Charles Gounod, premiered on May 4, 1941, Pagliacci, opera by R. Leoncavallo, premiere on May 22, G. Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville, premiere in June ... The premiere of the first ballet performance "Laurencia" by A. Kerin took place on August 7, 1941. The part of Laurencia was danced by Nina Goncharova, later Honored Artist of Ukraine. year he moved to Przhevalsk, where he continued to work on the creation of new performances and conducted concert activities in military units and hospitals. In April 1944 the theater returned from evacuation. And already in September 1944 the theater hosted the premiere of A. Borodin's opera "Prince Igor "." Polovtsian Dances "in the opera was staged by the choreographer of the Bolshoi Theater, Honored Artist of the Republic Kasyan Goleizovsky. The theater is becoming the center of the musical culture of the Donetsk region, a stage for Ukrainian and foreign, classical and modern, opera and ballet art, classical operetta, musical performances for children. In 1946, a choreographic studio was organized at the theater, which was headed by Avila Klavdiya Vasina (soloist of the ballet of the National Opera of Ukraine). Thanks to this studio, the Donetsk troupe was replenished with young artists, which contributed to the staging of ballet performances. The ballet troupe of the theater under the direction of the chief choreographer of the theater A.P. Girman. In 1947, the first ballet performances took place - B. Asafiev's ballet "The Fountain of Bakhchisarai", which was in the theater's repertoire for 38 years, and "Liley" by K. Dankevich. In 1948, the premiere of P. Tchaikovsky's ballet "Swan Lake" took place. In September 1947, the Donetsk Russian Musical Theater was renamed into the Stalin State Russian Opera and Ballet Theater. In 1961, it was renamed into the Donetsk State Russian Opera and Ballet Theater. In the former USSR, the Donetsk theater was called “the laboratory of modern opera.” Great credit goes to the chief director of the theater, People's Artist of Ukraine Oleksandr Afanasyevich Zdikhovsky, who has staged more than 70 opera and musical performances over the years of his work at the theater. For the first time in Ukraine, it was on the stage of the Donetsk Opera and Ballet Theater that the following operas were staged: Betrothal in a Monastery, Semyon Kotko, S. Prokofiev, Don Juan, W. A. ​​Mozart, Andre Chenier, U. Giordano, Yaroslav the Wise ”Y. Meitus and others. Donetsk Opera and Ballet Theater was one of the first in Ukraine to turn to the works of modern Ukrainian composers, staging the performances“ Sorochinskaya Fair ”,“ Oksana ”based on the poem by T. Shevchenko,“ Slip ”,“ Naymichka ”V Homolyaki, "Marusya Boguslavka" A. Sveshnikov, "Lisova song" N. Skorulskaya, "Nezrazhena love" L. Koloduba, "Katerina" N. Arkas, "Lileya" K. Dankevich, "Zaporozhets beyond the Danube" S. Gulak- Artemovsky, "Natalka Poltavka" N. Lysenko. On the stage of the Donetsk theater were staged performances of composers of the national republics: "Shurale" F. Yarullin, "Keto and Kote" V. Dumbadze, "Spartak" A. Khachaturian, "A Thousand and One Nights" F. Amirova and others. The glory and pride of the theater in different years were renowned artists: Yu. Sabinin, E. Gorchakova, T. Podolskaya, A. Kolobov, A. Galenkin, Yu. Gulyaev, A. Korobeichenko, N. Momot, V. Zemlyansky, G. Kalikin, R. Kolesnik, M. Vedeneva, A. Boytsov, director - A. Zdikhovsky, artists - V . Moskovchenko, B. Kupenko, V. Spevyakin; conductor - T. Mikitka, and on the stage of the Donetsk theater in different years danced and sang such leading figures and stage masters as People's Artists of the Soviet Union Ivan Kozlovsky, Sergey Lemeshev, Maria Bieshu, Olga Lepeshinskaya, Marina Semenova, K. Shulzhenko, A. Solovyanenko and many others. other. On November 2, 1977 the theater was awarded the title of "academic". In 1992, the school of choreographic skills of Vadim Pisarev was established at the theater. By the decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated December 9, 1999, the theater was named after A. B. Solovyanenko. Since 1993, the theater has hosted an international festival "Stars of the World Ballet", the founder and artistic director of which is Vadim Pisarev, People's Artist of Ukraine, laureate of international ballet competitions in Moscow, Helsinki, Paris, Jackson. Now Vadim Pisarev is the artistic director of the theater and focuses on the traditions and performances of classical ballet. Over the years, about 300 of the strongest dancers from 25 countries of the world took part in the festival. In November 2009, the XVI International Festival "Stars of the World Ballet" took place. In 2009, the theater hosted the VI International Festival of Children's Ballet Performances "Grand Pa" - the youngest and only one in Ukraine. Created by the efforts of the directorate of the theater, "Grand Pa" already has its own history and its fans. Pupils of different choreographic schools from Ukraine, countries of near and far abroad take part in the festival. Today, the theater's ballet troupe employs already recognized masters and talented youth who have won recognition at international ballet competitions. Talented and experienced teachers-tutors work with the collective of artists: the chief choreographer of the theater, People's Artist of Ukraine E. Khasyanova, People's Artist of Ukraine G. Kirillina, Honored Artist of Ukraine E. Ogurtsova. The audience of many cities and republics of the former Soviet Union, as well as abroad: Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Sweden, Austria, Norway, is familiar with the opera and ballet art of the Donetsk Opera and Ballet Theater. The ballet troupe of the theater is invited to tour the USA, England, Japan, China, Korea; an opera troupe, a symphony orchestra and a choir - to Italy, Spain, Switzerland. The choir of the theater under the direction of the chief choirmaster of the theater, People's Artist of Ukraine Lyudmila Streltsova, in addition to participating in the theater's tours, has repeatedly toured with a large concert program, including works of world choral classics, in Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, France, etc. Today the theater's choir is recognized as one of the best on Ukraine. The theater's repertoire includes performances that are not present in any other opera house in Ukraine: "Bogdan Khmelnitsky" by K. Dankevich, "Falstaff", "Love Drink" by G. Donizetti. In 2009 the theater was awarded the status of "national". Theater building. Theater was built according to the project of the architect L. Kotovsky, who strove to achieve a solemn monumentality of forms, convincing expressiveness and new planning solutions. Having reworked the Renaissance methods of composition, built on calm grandeur and harmonious proportions of volumes, the theater building is crowned with bas-reliefs and volumetric sculptures that emphasize and complete the main architectural The building of the theater was initially designed for dramatic performances. After the decree on the creation of a musical theater, it was necessary to make a number of adjustments in the process of construction in individual planning decisions. The architecture of the theater is solved in the classical style. The main facade with a loggia faces the theater square. The height of the facade is 100 Rhone area is about 30 meters. The building is located along the axis of Teatralniy Avenue, between Artyom Street and Pushkin Boulevard. The square and staircase provide a convenient approach to the theater from three sides. The auditorium, foyer, ceilings and walls of the theater are lavishly decorated with molding and corresponding light gilding. Sculptural busts of composers, writers and decorative vases are installed in separate niches of the foyer. The auditorium is designed as a parterre for 650 seats and a mezzanine for 320 seats, with small balconies. Busts of outstanding composers and poets are installed in niches above the mezzanine and balconies of the auditorium. The form of building rows of seats in the stalls and on the mezzanine is such that it provides good visibility. In the center of the ceiling of the hall is a large crystal chandelier. The theater has a mechanized stage, the area of ​​the main stage is 560 sq. m. in 1989-1994. the theater was undergoing reconstruction and selective overhaul.

The authors of the essay are L. A. Solovtsova, O. T. Leontyeva

The birthplace of opera is Italy. Brought to life by the humanistic ideals of the Italian Renaissance, this genre emerged at the end of the 16th century. In the unity of poetry, music and theater, a group of enlightened Florentine poets and musicians were looking for ways to revive the ancient theater, to create a synthetic art capable of truly expressing human feelings. The Florentines proclaimed the domination of poetry over music; Rejecting medieval polyphony, they put forward a new, homophonic-recitative style. According to B. Asafiev, the recitative pastorals of the Florentines were "a kind of propylaea" to the opera.

During the first half of the 17th century. opera gradually took shape as a genre, acquiring a new direction in its development: going beyond the narrow circle of Florentine poets and musicians, it came into contact with a wide audience in Mantua, in Rome, then in Venice, where in the 30s. XVII century the world's first permanent opera house was opened. Chamber performances by the Florentines were replaced by lavish theatrical performances; at the same time, music began to take precedence over the text - the declamatory style was gradually replaced by the cantilena.

The highest achievement of 17th century Italian opera is the work of two remarkable composers: Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) and Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725).

Monteverdi worked in Mantua, and then in Venice, where he created his best compositions. He was the first great opera composer to embody strong characters and great passions on the stage. He enriched the opera with a number of new musical and expressive means; he combined the melodious recitation with the cantilena; he subordinated melody, harmony and orchestral writing to a dramatic concept. Ahead of his era, Monteverdi followed the path of creating a realistic musical drama.

In the performances of subsequent Italian composers, the dramatic content gradually faded into the background; At the same time, the role of virtuoso singing grew more and more in opera music.

The development of Italian opera in the second half of the 17th and 18th centuries. associated with the lush flourishing of vocal art. The work of A. Scarlatti laid the foundation for the renowned Neapolitan school, which at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. took the dominant place that previously belonged to the Venetian school. Having adopted the experience of the Florentine, Roman and Venetian masters, the Neapolitans used their creative achievements.

In Naples, the genre of Italian opera finally took shape, where music dominated the text, where the types of vocal forms were determined and the singing art reached a high flowering. Wonderful Italian singers have become famous all over the world not only for their beautiful voices, but also for the highest vocal skill, called bel canto. However, throughout the XVIII century. the art of bel canto gradually took on an increasingly external, virtuoso character. The best Italian singers possessed the creative gift of improvisation; performing arias, they varied them and improvised cadenzas. Trying to imitate the renowned masters of the bel canto, less talented vocalists often exceeded the artistic boundaries in their performances.

The singers' enthusiasm for virtuoso technique also influenced the work of composers. Yielding to the tastes of the public and the habits of the singers, composers often overloaded arias with virtuoso decorations. Acquiring external brilliance, the music gradually lost that emotional expressiveness, which marked the work of A. Scarlatti and his closest followers. The virtuoso singers took first place in the opera, pushing the composer and librettist into the background. When composing an opera, it was necessary, first of all, to provide "spectacular numbers" for the audience's favorites.

The composers of the Neapolitan school, even in the period of its highest prosperity, were little interested in the issues of drama. The type of so-called “serious” opera (opera seria) that emerged in Naples was mainly an alternation of arias and recitatives; ensembles did not play a significant role; the choirs were almost absent; the main place was occupied by arias and duets, expressing the feelings of the heroes; in the recitatives, the events and the course of the drama were mainly set forth. As the power of virtuoso singers increased, the attention to dramatic content diminished more and more. The tastes of the patrons of the court theaters had a very negative effect on the development of the opera seria. Opera librettos often boiled down to meaningless love intrigues.

Heroic-pastoral themes, scenes from mythology and the Middle Ages served only as a canvas, giving rise to brilliant virtuoso arias. How indifferent both performers and listeners were to the stylistic unity of music can be judged by the fact that in the 1920s. XVIII century the type of operas spread, in which all the acts belonged to different composers. Such operas were called pasticho ("pate").

Repeatedly throughout the XVIII century. and poets and composers have attempted to reinforce the drama of "serious" opera. Much credit for this belongs to the poets A. Zeno and Pietro Metastasio. But they did not overcome the schematism in the construction of the opera performance: like their predecessors, Zeno and Metastasio proceeded not from the requirements of drama, but from the established order in the distribution of arias and recitatives among acts. The musical drama of the opera remained essentially the same; in particular, the recitative episodes were in the nature of formal connections between vocal numbers. During the recitative, the audience usually spoke loudly or left the hall to eat and play cards.

This does not mean that “among the Italian composers there were no serious, thinking artists. In the second half of the 18th century, in the era of Italian enlightenment, the desire to raise the artistic level of "serious" opera intensified, but none of the Italian composers at that time dared to abandon the generally accepted structure of the seria opera, to abandon the empty virtuosity of the arias.

Simultaneously with the "serious" opera in the depths of the same Neapolitan school, the comic opera (buffa opera) was born. Having gained wide popularity from the first steps, it quickly spread throughout all European cities, displacing "serious" opera even from the stages of court theaters.

With its origins dating back to the 18th century, Italian comic opera grew out of comedic scenes and interludes that alternated between Venetian and Neapolitan operas of the time; her other source was dialectal (based on popular dialects) comedies, usually performed with simple songs. As a genre, comic opera took root in the interludes of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736); in the last quarter of a century, she reached classical maturity in the works of Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816) and Domenico Cimorosa (1749-1801). Democratic in its aspirations, the opera buffa arose as a reaction against the art of “serious” opera, which had become divorced from life; it arose in response to the demands of a new aesthetics, which demanded a concrete connection with modernity from art.

The Italian comic opera presented entertaining adventures from the life of contemporaries on stage; ridiculed vices and often parodied the genre of "serious" opera itself. The opera buffa opposed the stilted pathos of the opera seria, its virtuoso arias and the recitations that have lost their expressiveness with comedy themes, simple folk and everyday tunes, lively dance rhythms, characteristic recitatives, so close to the tongue twister of folk dialect comedies. Action-packed, dynamic ensembles have gained great importance in comic opera.

In the course of its development, buffa opera has evolved; certain elements of the "serious" opera penetrated into the comic, and vice versa. But these genres continued to coexist separately even in the 19th century.

At the dawn of the national liberation movement that rocked all of Italy (the first decades of the 19th century), literary romanticism became the aesthetic expression of progressive ideas. The first Italian romantics, participants in the revolutionary movement of the Carbonari poets, considered the main task of art and literature to serve the people. They fought for the development of national culture, called for the study of the life of the people, their thoughts and aspirations, history and art.

Fostering national identity in the Italian people, they called on the country to unite and to overthrow the yoke of the oppressors.

The national liberation movement is reflected in the art of opera, breathing into it the spirit of modern life. A new direction in opera was formed under the progressive influence of Italian literary romanticism. Rejecting traditional mythological plots, Italian composers turned to man, to his spiritual world.

The work of Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868) was, as it were, a connecting link in the development of Italian opera, completing its previous stage and laying the foundation for a new national school. In the composer's comic operas (the best of which is The Barber of Seville), with their bold, topical content, the buffa opera reached its zenith.

Rossini also enriched the field of "serious" opera, which was going through a deep ideological and dramatic crisis at that time. True, many conventions remained in his works that violated the naturalness of dramatic development. Suffice it to say that Rossini easily transferred fragments of music from one opera to another. Nevertheless, in the genre of "serious" opera, he created a number of remarkable works.

Rossini turned to heroic themes that meet the needs of our time; in his operas powerful choirs sounded, dynamic, developed ensembles appeared, the orchestra became colorful and dramatically expressive. Rossini's Wilhelm Tell laid the foundation for a new genre of heroic-historical romantic opera.

The works of the genius Rossini and his younger contemporaries and followers - Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) and Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) - are the best achievements of Italian opera in the first third of the 19th century. These composers renewed the musical language of Italian opera, saturating it with beautiful melodies, intonationally close to folk songs. They knew how to create melodies in which the best sides of the singers' talent were revealed. The names of Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti are associated with the performing activities of such great singers as G. Pasta, G. Rubini, M. Malibran, A. Tamburini, L. Lablache, G. Grisi, who claimed the glory of Italian opera on all European stages.

The heyday of Italian opera was short-lived. Having created "William Tell" (1829), Rossini did not write any more operas. In the mid-30s. young Bellini died. By the beginning of the 40s. creativity of seriously ill Donizetti went downhill. The National Opera was again in serious crisis. The Italian scene was flooded with a stream of mediocre operas composed by numerous imitators of Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti. In the works, which for the most part were created in haste, for the next season, and were immediately forgotten, extremely little attention was paid to questions of ideological content and problems of drama. Opera melodies were replete with effects that did not follow from the character of the images, and sometimes even contradicted the content. Composers continued to write in librettos based on accepted stencils; musical numbers in operas followed the usual patterns, not organically linked by action.

The creation of full-fledged opera librettos was hampered by the routine that reigned in opera houses. Even when the best poets of the time, such as the famous Felice Romani, wrote librettos, when librettists turned to the works of the classics of world literature, they laid the plots in a standard scheme, which inevitably impoverished them.

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), a brave innovator, ardent, convinced and consistent champion of the realistic principles of Italian literature of the era of the national liberation movement, brought the Italian opera out of the ideological and dramatic crisis.

If the founder of the national opera school was Rossini, then in the work of Verdi she reached its peak. Italy did not have a composer equal to Verdi in value and power of talent either during Verdi's lifetime or after his death. The first heroic operas of the composer, which appeared in the 40s, were born of the growing upsurge of the revolution, when all the cultural forces of the country joined the liberation movement. A convinced democrat and patriot, Verdi created art that was highly ideological and at the same time accessible to the masses. The greatest merit of the musician is that from the first creative steps, relying on the traditions of the national opera and defending national identity, he followed the path of innovation, along the path of tireless search for dramatic truth.

An astute artist and a born playwright, he realized that formal routine, indifference to dramatic content, led Italian opera to a standstill. Realizing that the basic defects of Italian operas were rooted in the schematism of construction, he waged an indefatigable struggle to create dramatically complete librettos and actively directed the work of his librettists.

Verdi constantly strived for a realistic vitality of characters and dramatic situations. He was looking for new dramatic and truthful forms. He tried to subordinate all expressive means in the opera to the identification of the main idea.

Having gone through the fascination with the "violent romanticism" of Hugo and the Spanish romantics close to him, critically assimilating the achievements of contemporary Western European opera, Verdi in his later works - in "Aida", "Othello" and "Falstaff" - achieved the ideal fusion of action, word and music , came to create an authentic realistic musical drama.

In the 70s and 80s. of the last century in Italian opera, which was going through a period of searching and struggle of directions, the names of Verdi and Wagner were the two poles around which the musical forces were grouped. The fascination with German romantics - and especially Wagner - the desire to imitate them captured a significant part of Italian youth. This hobby, often reduced to a simple imitation, had its positive and negative sides.

The study of German music aroused an increased interest in harmony, polyphony, and orchestra among Italian composers. But at the same time, they were on the wrong path, sweeping aside the traditions of Italian opera, discarding the classical operatic heritage. They even disdained Verdi's work. The most prominent representative of this trend was Arrigo Boito (1852-1918), whose opera "Mephistopheles" enjoyed great success at that time.

In the last decade of the century, Wagnerism, which was spreading across Italy, was opposed by a new opera trend - verism (from the word "vero" - true, truthful). The ground for the emergence of operatic verism was prepared by the literary movement of the 1980s, bearing the same name.

The first verist opera, Rural Honor by Pietro Mascagni (1890), was based on a story by Giovanni Verga. Both Ruggiero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci (1892) and Ruggiero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci (1892) were a huge success with an audience tired of the vague symbolism in operatic plots of Wagner's Italian imitators.

The creative credo of verism is truth in life. The verists took the theme of their operas from everyday life. Their heroes are not outstanding personalities, but ordinary, ordinary people with their intimate dramas. In this, Italian verism is close to French lyric opera. The melodic language of Italian verists was influenced by the sensitive melody of Gounod, Thom, Massenet. The realistic work of Bizet and Verdi won particular love among the verists. Bizet's "Carmen" was appreciated by the verists as highly as Verdi's operas, from which they perceived the emphasized emotionality of the music and the acuteness of dramatic situations. It is precisely with these features of their work, as well as temperamental, accessible melodies that the verists have won wide popularity. However, the interpretation of plots in their operas often acquired a melodramatic character. Wanting to show everyday life “without embellishment,” the verists often substituted realistic reproduction of reality by “photographing” it. And this led to the refinement of characters, sometimes to the superficial illustrativeness of the music, to naturalism.

Verism is also closely related to the work of the most outstanding Italian composer of the 20th century. Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), who did not escape the influence of German romanticism in his early operas. According to the main creative aspirations and the characteristic features of Puccini's style, he is a believer, although much in his work goes beyond verism. Puccini is the most talented and versatile composer of this direction.

Puccini's verism is manifested primarily in his attitude to the operatic plot. In ordinary, unadorned life, Puccini finds material for a deeply moving drama. His musical speech is always emotionally truthful. In terms of the richness and freshness of the musical language, the composer stands out among his contemporaries - the verists. And although Puccini could not rise in creativity to the realistic heights of Verdi, but in terms of the emotional immediacy of the impact of music, in the organic clarity of melody, in the strength and brightness of dramatic talent, he is Verdi's direct heir and a truly Italian artist.

The best legacy of Italian classical opera is the work of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Puccini and especially Verdi. The works of these composers are included in the repertoire of most musical theaters, invariably heard in concerts and on the radio.

Italian classical opera, with its progressive ideological content, strong national traditions, with its true "vocal", has a place of honor in the treasury of world musical culture.

Further, in the XX century. Italian composers have shown themselves brighter in the forms of instrumental music. However, opera is not forgotten in modern Italy either. The author of ten operas, of which the opera Sunday, staged in 1904 in Turin, based on the novel by L. Tolstoy, was especially popular, was Franco Alfano (1877-1954). At the beginning of the XX century. performed in the operatic genre Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936), a representative of Italian impressionism, who also survived the significant influence of Rimsky-Korsakov. His first operas were King Enzio (1905) and Semirama (1910), staged in Bologna. In 1927, his opera The Sunken Bell, based on the drama of the same name by Gerhard Hauptmann, was performed at the Hamburg Theater. In the later period of his work, Respighi evolved towards neoclassicism. The result of this turn was the free adaptation of the opera Orpheus by C. Monteverdi (1935), which played an important role in the revival and new discovery of the operatic creativity of this great Italian composer.

The largest representative of the older generation of contemporary Italian opera composers is Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880-1968). His composing style was formed in the study of the classical and pre-classical traditions of national art. Pizzetti has continually composed operas for the famous Teatro alla Scala in Milan. The renowned Arturo Toscanini conducted the premieres of many of them. The first was "Phaedra" based on the drama of Gabriel d "Annunzio (1915). The opera Fra Gerardo was successfully staged in 1928 based on the plot of the historical chronicle of Parma in the 13th century. Pizzetti, who composed fifteen operas, cannot be called an innovator in musical theater, but his works always had sufficient success to remain in the repertoire for a long time.In the years after the Second World War, the venerable composer continued to work intensively for the theater.New Pizzetti operas appeared regularly: in 1947 - "Gold", in 1949 - "Bath Loup", in 1950 - "Iphigenia", in 1952 - "Cagliostro." These works retain some features of late Italian verism, combined with the influence of Debussy (the refined and melodious recitation of his "Pelléas and Melisande"). In his later years, the old Italian master did not lose high authority in the opera house.It is noteworthy that it was his last three operas that turned out to be the most successful and won recognition outside Italy: this is "Yorio's Daughter" to the text by G. d "Annunzio (1954), post directed in Naples by the famous director Roberto Rossellini, Murder in the Cathedral (1958) and Clytemnestra (1964). Murder in the Cathedral, an opera with special interest received by the English public, is based on the poetic text of the popular play by the contemporary English poet and playwright TS Eliot. The drama tells the story of the life and death of the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Beckett, the former Chancellor of King Henry II of England. Two motives form a deep ideological conflict of this work: the demagogically grounded "historical necessity" political assassination of Beckett - "in the name of the absolute power of the monarch" - and the hero's voluntary martyrdom. The playwright foresaw a possible musical structure in the composition of his play. He originally combines the forms of Catholic worship and ancient Greek tragedy with a commentary choir.

In terms of the scale of his creative talent and role in musical theater, only Gian Francesco Malipiero (1882-1973) can be staged next to Pizzetti. Like many Italian composers of the 20th century, he went through a fascination with impressionism, which manifested itself in a special attention to orchestral brilliance. But already in the 20s. this composer turned to an in-depth study of the Italian masters of the Baroque and Renaissance and became an adherent of the widespread neoclassicism. Having devoted much time and energy to editing and restoring works by Claudio Monteverdi and Antonio Vivaldi, Malipiero himself was strongly influenced by these composers. The diatonic melody of the old folk song and the Gregorian chant was also of great importance in the formation of his style.

Malipiero composed no less than thirty different musical and theatrical works. From 1918 to 1922 the composer worked on the opera trilogies Orpheida and Goldonian. In 1932, he completed the third trilogy entitled The Venetian Mystery. One of the most famous operas by Malipiero is The Story of a Substituted Son (1933) based on the play by Luigi Pirandello. We also note the operas "Amusements of Callot" (1942) based on the novel by E. TA Hoffmann "Princess Brambilla" and "Don Juan" (1964) based on Pushkin's "Stone Guest".

An overview of the operatic creativity of modern Italian composers of the older generation would be incomplete without the name of Alfredo Casella (1883-1947), although the field of instrumental music, not related to the word, attracted this major master much more than opera. In the operatic genre, he composed three works: The Snake Woman (1931) based on the play by C. Gozzi (stylized Old Italian opera buffa), the one-act chamber opera The History of Orpheus (staged in 1932) and the one-act mystery opera Desert of Temptation "(1937), executed by state order in a fake" monumental ceremonial "style and telling about the" cultural and creative "mission of the Italian army, which occupied Ethiopia. Under the conditions of the fascist dictatorship, the creative efforts of even the most talented composers were often limited and distorted by the demagogically perverted demands of "ethnography", "historicism" and a falsely interpreted nationality and political relevance. These demands, in an atmosphere of provincial isolation, characterized the pseudo-classicism of the "Mussolinian era", which boastfully called itself the "golden age" of art.

The principal opponent of fascism and its policy in art remained Luigi Dallapiccola (1904-1975), whose work received well-deserved recognition in the post-war years. In his youth, Dallapiccola was close to the neoclassical direction widespread in Italy, but already in the late 30s. his music reveals the features of expressionism. Dallapiccol's popularity in the post-war years was greatly facilitated by two one-act operas, staged in several countries as television performances. These are "Night Flight" (1940) based on the novel by A. de Saint-Exupéry and "The Prisoner" (1949) after the short story "Torture by Hope" by V. de Lisle-Adan. Dallapiccola is a prominent spokesman for the ideas of the Italian Resistance in the art of music. In his opera "The Prisoner" the action is transferred to Spain in the 16th century. A nameless Flanders freedom fighter languishes in a Spanish prison. He is tortured with false promises of freedom, provocative rumors about events in his homeland, and, finally, they lead him to execution. The listeners have no doubts that the theme of the opera is fascist terror and Resistance, the struggle against political dictatorship that encroaches on the freedom of the individual and the people.

Dallapiccol's music is deeply expressive, although the complexity of his musical language prevents at times an easy perception of his compositions.

In the 50s and 60s. Italian opera houses have staged the works of some of the composers who were previously famous for their music for films. These are Nino Rota (1911-1979) and mainly Renzo Rossellini (1908-1982), brother of the famous filmmaker. The efforts of these composers marked an attempt to democratize and actualize contemporary Italian opera. Rossellini in his operas "War" (1956), "Whirlwind" (1958), "Octopus" (1958), "View from the Bridge" (1961) deliberately chose modern subjects and strove to simplify the musical language, bring his music closer to folklore and mass song genres.

An even more decisive attempt at renovating Italian musical theater is the opera "Intolerance" by Luigi Nono (1924-1990), which since 1961 won wide fame outside Italy. With this work, the composer intended to revive the tradition of Brecht's political, agitational theater. Nono's ideological and aesthetic program required the solution of a number of complex problems, and first of all the composer had to somehow combine the requirements of accessibility and clarity of the work with new, modern technical means of composition. Nono is one of those few representatives of the post-war "avant-garde" who accepts the Marxist teaching on the role of art in the life of society and realizes the need to create art for the people, art that is understandable to the broad masses of listeners. Therefore, in his opera, Nono takes care of simplicity and melodicness, introduces popular melodic turns, characteristic folk dance rhythms, uses a speaking choir for the sake of sharpness and immediacy of influence. The singing choirs, pre-recorded on tape, are broadcast through numerous loudspeakers. Their powerful "stereophonic" sound should evoke the idea of ​​the monumental music of streets and squares, of music in the open air. The libretto of the opera, written by the composer himself, is very succinct and schematic, allowing for the variation of individual plot situations in the interests of the greatest relevance of the content. The text includes a montage of various verse stanzas by different authors, aphoristic sayings, slogans, which, from the point of view of the composer, clearly express the spirit of the times. The first version of the opera was titled Intolerance. 1960 "and contained a protest against the war in Algeria. Staged later, this opera was filled with other topical slogans, quotes from politically relevant documents of the current day. The opera began its journey across European stages with a political scandal at the Venice festival in 1961. The cause of the scandal was its theme - resistance to violence, intransigence, propaganda of the ideas of socialist transformation of society. This work was staged in many European theaters, despite its somewhat "trial", experimental character. It now exists in a new version under the heading “Intolerance. 1970 ", corrected by new directorial techniques, new plot details, but the composer still continues his further searches in this direction, striving for the fullest possible synthesis of the dramatic techniques of modern political theater with new musical and expressive means.

Introducing the second part of our selection of the most beautiful theaters in Italy.

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Rome Opera House

The first building of the Rome Opera House, known as the Teatro Costanzi, was built in 1874. The main hall of the theater was connected by an underground passage with the Hotel Quirinale, built in 1865, at a time when, due to the unification of Italy, intensive development of Rome took place between the central station and Piazza Venezia.

In 1926, the theater was bought out by the administration of Rome. The completion, expansion and redevelopment were entrusted to the architect Marcello Piacentini, who completely changed its appearance, increasing the number of tiers of the auditorium to four and installing the world's largest Murano crystal chandelier. The theater received the name "Royal Opera House" and was inaugurated on February 27, 1928 by Nero di Arrigo Boito.

After the Second World War in 1956, the theater was again expanded and rebuilt. Among other things, it was decided to create a hall for guests of honor and a foyer. The work was completed in 1960. Thus, the theater has a capacity of 1,700 seats.

Puccini's Tosca premiered at the Costanzi Theater in 1900. It also hosted the Italian premiere of his Girls from the West with the participation of conductor Arturo Toscanini in 1911, as well as Gianni Schicchi in 1919. In 1910, the theater premiered Ruggiero Leoncavallo's Maya, and ten years later Riccardo Zandonai's Romeo and Juliet premiered here.

Pietro Mascagni was a regular at the Roman opera, was its artistic director in 1909-1910, the same theater hosted such premieres of the composer as Rural Honor in 1890, Friend Fritz in 1891, Iris in 1898 with featuring Enrico Caruso, and The Skylark in 1917.

In addition to the premieres, the audience remembered such productions as The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart (1964), Don Carlo by Giuseppe Verdi (1965, conductor Carlo Maria Giulini, director Luchino Visconti).

Neapolitan Opera House San Carlo

The opening of the theater, built by order of Charles III, took place in 1737 with the opera Achilles on Skyros by Domenico Sarro after the libretto by Pietro Metastasio. It is the oldest opera house in Europe and one of the largest in Italy. Its capacity is 2000 spectators. Soon the theater became the heart of the Neapolitan opera school and the center of international culture: in 1751, Tito's Mercy by Gluck was staged on its stage, Cato in Utica and Alexander in India by I.K. Bach, later Handel, Haydn and the young Mozart collaborated with the theater, who first visited the theater as a spectator in 1778.

“The eyes are blinded, the soul is defeated. [...] There is not a single theater in Europe that can not even approach it, but only make up its pale shadow. " (Stendhal, 1817).

In the 19th century, when Naples shone among European capitals and was an obligatory stage in the “Great Journey” for children of noble families, the golden age of San Carlo began, where Rossini and Donizetti were then conducting. All famous artists of that time considered it an honor to perform on the stage of this theater. In 1819 Nicolo Paganini gave two concerts here, and in 1826 the premiere of "Bianchi and Fernando" by Vincenzo Bellini, written especially for San Carlo, took place on its stage.

Later, its audience enjoyed the operas of Puccini, and at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries - the music of the "young school" of Mascagni and the Neapolitans by birth and education Leoncavallo, Giordano, Chilea and Alfano.

Venetian Gran Theater "La Fenice"

The construction of the theater began in 1789 by the architect Giannantonio Selva and was completed in 1792. Venice's main opera house is located in the Sestière di San Marco. The theater was created thanks to the Venier family, as the previous theater of San Benedetto, one of the most elegant and prestigious in the city, was destroyed by fire. The name of the new theater ("Phoenix") symbolizes the rebirth of art from the ashes. The name became prophetic, since subsequently the theater was repeatedly burned and rebuilt. The last revival took place in 2003 after the strongest fire in 1996, which completely destroyed it.

It took seven years to restore and renovate. At its opening on December 21, 2003, Riccardo Mutti conducted the Consecration of the House overture, Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms (the composer was buried on St. Michael's in Venice) and Te Deum by Antonio Caldara, a prominent Venetian composer of the 17th-18th centuries, were also performed. ... The ceremony ended with a performance of "Three Symphonic Marches" by Wagner, a composer with close ties to Venice.

It is impossible to list all the premieres of La Fenice. In the 19th century, these were operas by Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi. There is no less a list of conductors, singers and directors who have appeared on his stage. Since 1930, the Contemporary Music Department of the Venice Biennale has been held on the stage of La Fenice. Within the framework of the Biennale, some works by Stravinsky, Britten, Prokofiev, Nono, Maderna and Malipiero were performed for the first time.

Turin Royal Theater

The theater was built by order of King Karl-Emmanuel III in just 2 years by the architect Benedetto Alfieri. The opening took place on December 26, 1740. It accommodated up to 2,500 spectators in a spacious parterre and five tiers of boxes and galleries; the most interesting performances with luxurious decorations were staged here. Since 1997, the theater has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The names of Giacomo Puccini, who entrusted the Theater Reggio with the premiere of Manon Lescaut and La Bohème, are closely associated with the theater, as well as Richard Strauss, who conducted Salome during its 1906 Italian premiere.

On the night of February 9, 1936, the theater was destroyed by fire. It took almost 40 years to restore it.

The theater was reopened on April 10, 1973 with Giuseppe Verdi's opera Sicilian Vespers directed by Maria Callas and Giuseppe di Stefano. The theater is once again becoming an important center of cultural life in Piedmont and Italy. In 1990, the theater celebrated the 250th anniversary of its founding, in 1996 - the centenary of the world premiere of La Bohème. In 1998, the 25th anniversary of the restoration of the theater was celebrated, and in 2006 - the XX Winter Olympic Games and the Olympics of Culture. Since 2007, the theater's musical director has been composer Gianandrea Noseda.

Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari

The Petruzzelli Theater is the fourth largest in Italy and the largest private theater in Europe. It owes its appearance in 1903 to the Petruzzelli family, who wished to completely gild it from the inside, as well as equip it with heating and electric lighting.

From the very beginning, the greatest musicians of their time have performed on its stage, including the composer Pietro Mascagni, tenors Benjamin Gigli and Mario del Monaco, conductors Herbert von Karajan and Riccardo Muti, singer Renata Tebaldi and Luciano Pavarotti. In the eighties, the theater hosted two high-profile premieres: Iphigenia Tavricheskaya by Niccolo Piccinni, which was never performed again after the Paris premiere of 1779, and the Neapolitan version of Bellini's Puritans, written especially for Maria Malibran and never performed.

On the night of October 27, 1991, the theater was damaged in a fire. It took almost 18 years to recover. The re-opening was marked by the performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, conducted by Fabio Mastrangelo. The opera season opened in the same year with Puccini's Turandot.

Opera House of Giuseppe Verdi in Trieste

The Giuseppe Verdi Opera House is one of the oldest operating opera houses in the world. Its construction began in 1798 according to the project of the architect Gian Antonio Selva (he also designed the Venetian "La Fenice"). The construction was completed in 1801 already under the leadership of Matteo Pertsch. The structure of the building resembles Milan's La Scala. The first production was “Genevieve Scottish” by Simone Mayr.

During the 1843-44 opera season, Giuseppe Verdi's Nabucco was an overwhelming success with the public. In 1848, the theater hosted the premiere of Verdi's Le Corsaire, and in 1850, Stiffelio. In honor of the great composer, the city council of Trieste decided to name the city opera house after him.

Teatro Massimo in Palermo

Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele in Palermo is the largest opera house in Italy and the third largest in Europe after the Paris Opera and the Vienna State Opera. Its area is 7700 square meters.

The building was built in the neoclassical style on the grounds of the Church of the Stigmata and the Monastery of St. Julian, demolished for the construction of a theater. Work began in 1875 by the architect Giovanni Battista Filippo Basile. The opening took place on May 16, 1897 with the opera Falstaff by Giuseppe Verdi, directed by Leopold Munone.

Curious fact: in 1990, the theater became the filming location for Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather III, starring Al Pacino, Andy Garcia and Sofia Coppola. The scene was filmed here when Michael Corleone, who has arrived in Palermo, is present at his daughter's debut in Pietro Mascagni's Rustic Honor.

In the first opera season, the theater gave Aida (15 performances), then Lohengrin, La Traviata, and Manon Lescaut were staged. Jules Massenet's opera The King of Lahore was a huge success in those years. It was played 17 times in one season.

The years 1906-1919 fell on the heyday of the "Palermo Liberty", marked by the local premieres of Wagner's operas: "Valkyrie", "Siegfried", "Twilight of the Gods", "Tristan and Isolde", "Parsifal". The world premieres of four operas were staged: Lost in the Dark by Stefano Donaudi, Venice by Riccardo Storti, Month of Mary by Umberto Giordano, Baroness Carini by Giuseppe Mule.

Parma Theater Reggio

The building of the Teatro Reggio in Parma began to be built in 1821 by the architect Nicola Bettoli on the initiative of the Duchess Marie-Louise of Austria, Napoleon's wife, who was put in charge of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza after the Congress of Vienna. The Duchess maintained the great traditions of Italian music and found the existing Farnese Theater unworthy of the city's needs. The opening of the new theater took place on May 16, 1829 with the opera Zaire, specially composed for this event by Vincenzo Bellini. The first opera season continued with Moses and Pharaoh, Death of Semiramis and The Barber of Seville by Gioacino Rossini.

Since its inception, the Reggio Theater has witnessed and participated in profound changes in the operatic genre that marked the end of the Rossini era and the heyday of Verdi, the growing interest in German and French opera, the movement towards realism in the works of Mascagni, Leoncavallo and Puccini.

Even today, the theater is considered a true keeper of the Italian opera tradition, not inferior to Milan's La Scala and Venetian Fenice, although, of course, it is less known in the world.